Legend of Zelda: Fourth Bearer of the Triforce - Part 2
by Link's Rose
Summary: Continuing the adventure of Twilight Princess in this second installment, Rose learns more about her past her friends while growing closer to Link and Midna on their hunt for the four pieces of the legendary Mirror of Twilight. - Second in the FBOTT Series - LinkxOC
1. Breath Before the Plunge

_A/N: Hello everyone! Happy 2 year anniversary! I'd just like to thank everyone for following and reviewing my previous story, and for being so patient when I decided to revise. (A good decision really, I had **no** writing skills in grade 8. I'm glad I've fixed it :) Anyways, welcome to part 2 of Legend of Zelda: Fourth Bearer of the Triforce! I would recommend you read my previous installment if you haven't already, otherwise this will make no sense._

_Blanket Disclaimer: I don't own LoZ at all whatsoever. I've said it before. On that same note, I do own my own OCs._

_PS. For those who don't already know, (in which case, read part 1), this series is Link/OC. If that's not your cup of tea, that's okay, but I won't tolerate flamers or hate. I'm always open to constructive criticism, I know my writing isn't the best, so I'm always looking for ways to improve myself._

_Here's the review replies!_

_MasterShortPantsx3: I'm glad you're excited. I'll be the first to admit I'm not on my info blog all that much, I spend more time on my Supernatural one. I hope to see your reviews on this story as well, hon :)_

_Flame Darkmoon: Good to know :)_

_godofmadness43: Yep, Twill's in this one too. There won't be any dramatic discoveries about her until just after the TP arc, though._

_Meatbun Attack: Indeed I did update! And you'll have to see for yourself, no spoilers! I don't think it'll be in this chapter, though._

_LordWoodrow: I fully intend to keep going, thank you for reviewing! :)_

_RandomButLoved: I can't imagine passing out being very fun, but after going and going and going after nearly drowning, well... it couldn't really be helped :/ And yeah, Rose's dream was kinda suspicious. Better keep an eye on Twill, huh? And now you don't have to wait for the anniversary, it's here! Also, you don't have to apologize for long reviews, I love reading them :D_

_Hylian Mage: I'm so glad to hear that! I'm sorry to say I don't have much time for reading outside of school. I had quite a few setbacks, I'm still running catch-up, but I'm happy to know that I inspired you to write your own story :) And don't worry, I've no intentions of **not** writing. You couldn't pay me all the money in the world. I hope you like this one just as much as the last, if not more!_

_Anyways, enough rambling, let's get to the story!_

* * *

Chapter 1: Breath Before the Plunge

It had been nearly three weeks since Link and I had arrived in Kakariko. I'd originally suggested we wait a few days, but a few days turned into a week, one week into two. Midna didn't seem to mind, nor Link. In fact, he seemed glad to spend time with the kids again, and they were doubly delighted.

Today, though, I knew it was time to get back on our feet and get going, as much as I would have liked to stay with my friends a little longer.

"You two are actually going to be careful this time, right? No drowning, or getting shot, or dying?" Carmen asked when I announced -after speaking with Link beforehand- our plan to leave that day. I couldn't help but laugh at the bluntness of the question.

"As much as we can." I responded. "But neither of us will be dying, I'm at least ninety percent sure of that." The other ten percent was a margin for change, in case something else was waiting for us in the Arbiter's Grounds than the Stallord and Death Sword.

"Forgive me if that's not exactly reassuring." Bethany said sarcastically, drawing out a few laughs from the people at the table.

"We're not _that_ bad, are we?" I asked, looking for an ally in Link. He just laughed with a shrug.

"Murphy's law; Anything that can go wrong _will_ go wrong." Scott quoted. "You can't blame us for worrying, especially with everything you guys have already told me."

Ever since Bethany filled him in on just what we've been up against in the last two and a half months, he's worried for us.

"But Murphy's law doesn't apply to Hyrule, nobody here even knows who Murphy is!" I exclaimed, faking exasperation and causing more laughter. "Coming back to a more serious note, are we almost ready to go?" I asked, looking to Link.

"Whenever you are," he answered.

* * *

An upside to the whole mess with Zant was that the dark crystals cut down travel time by _a lot_. Warping made it so much quicker, even if the transformation from human to wolf and back wasn't the most pleasant thing.

"That works a lot better than spending hours avoiding monsters." I thought aloud. Things were getting easier, though I knew that was just for now. The second we got to the desert, bad stuff was gonna start happening again.

"It'll certainly make travel a lot easier, even if it means fighting Shadow Beasts to get more portals." Link added. That was the downside, unfortunately. But he was right; it made travelling a lot easier.

"Now, we should go see the Golden Wolf before we forget, you've got another hidden skill to learn. If I'm right, that one's…. the Back Slice." I added, pointing out the stone where the wolf stood, some distance along Castle Town's ruined outer wall. There was only a lone Helmasaur between us and it and that would be easy to avoid.

Avoiding the spike-shielded little pest was not as simple as I'd hoped. It saw us much sooner than I'd hoped it would, barely giving me any time to get out of the way before it charged at us.

"I hate those things…" I allowed myself to complain just a little bit when we got away from it. It just wasn't worth the effort of taking it out. "Either way, here we are…" With that, I started climbing a lattice of vines hanging over one side of the stone, our way up.

It turned out that the shade wasn't through with me _quite_ yet.

"_We meet again. This is the last skill I was instructed to teach you from the goddesses."_

Getting right to the point, he held out a third scroll to me. Din's fire. The energy of Din's Fire was more... aggressive, than Nayru's Love or Farore's Wind had been. Then again, it _was_ the only one of the three powers traditionally used as an attack. Farore's Wind was evasion, Nayru's Love a shield. It made sense that their energies would be less aggressive.

That, and Din's part of the Triforce was Power, so... it made sense to me.

The Shade gave me a quick rundown on how to channel the energy into my attacks, had me throw a ball of the magic fire at him to knock him back. It went much better than Nayru's Love had, through it was more draining.

"_The more you train, the easier it will be."_ the shade assured me. These were his parting words, before I was back on Hyrule Field. That had gone much quicker than I'd expected.

* * *

Castle Town was much less crowded, for that I was grateful. Market days weren't as often as they used to be, given that there was a much smaller population, but even then they got crowded. As we turned down the southern road, to avoid the center of town –market day or otherwise, it would still be quite crowded– I remembered something else.

The memory was accompanied by the sight of a dark purple big-top tent; The Star Game, possibly the most helpful, if challenging, minigame in all of Twilight Princess.

"Oh! Link, can we check that out?" I asked, pointing towards it. "Believe it or not, that game can really help us out!" I added, when it appeared he might say no. I could say that I didn't resort to using the puppy-eyes on Link, but then I'd be lying. After another moment and a glance between me and the tent, he gave in with a nod.

On the way in, I noticed the three girls whispering –though, not being nearly as quiet as they thought they were– about the Star Game's host. Purlo, I was pretty sure his name was. Back to the girls, Hanna, Kili, and Misha, they were whispering that they hoped someone would go in soon, and I saw the one with purple hair turn to see us as we entered, pointing us out to the other two. They rushed in after us elatedly.

The lights were out inside, but I could see the faint outline of a cage inside, much larger than the outside of the tent let on, and in front of that a silhouette of a person. Within the cage, there were a number of small glowing balls. They looked like stars. Hence the name Star Game, I supposed.

Suddenly a spotlight lit up in front of us, shedding light on the host of the Star Game. The man looked ridiculous, honestly, with pants too short and a shirt fit for a court jester, with a hood that pointed over the top of his head. A large stopwatch was pinned to his belt. Overall, a very overdone outfit. Then again, it was show business.

"Greetings and salutations, good sir and madam! Welcome to the kingdom of hopes and fondest dreams!" Gods, even his voice was overdone. "In this place you can taste the life of a circus star _and _get your hands on gear that boggles the minds!" In our case, a larger arrow quiver. "It is my _earnest _hope that you find delight playing the STAR game!"

"…Interesting…" I wasn't quite sure what to say, knowing he was going ahead with his explanation of the game anyways.

"**S**o all you must endeavor is to

**T**rack down all the glowing orbs

**A**nd collect them all before time

**R**uns out!"

"Heh... Rather outstanding name, I must say. Step right up! Shyness, BEGONE! It's only 10 Rupees! Who's up to the challenge?"He sounded pretty proud of himself, fitting in the name of the game in the explanation. I gave Link another pleading look, and he raised his hand.

"I'll do it." Purlo grinned widely, accepting a yellow rupee from me.

"Many thanks, good sir! The game will begin once you enter the cage! May chance favor you! Heh heh heh..." I didn't like the sound of that sinister laugh, I just couldn't wait for Link to win. Then I could laugh at Purlo in my head. Oh ye of little faith. "Good sir, are you at the ready?! Then away we _go_!"

Purlo led Link into the cage, and I saw him pull the clawshot out of his bag. Meanwhile, I was taken to stand beside the fangirls. When we were all set and ready, Purlo blew his whistle, and the clock was on. Link had thirty seconds to get the floating balls of light.

"You've got this, Link! Come on!" I shouted my encouragement when he started, shooting off with the clawshot towards the first ball. I caught a smile and a little wave from him before he went on for the rest, back and forth across the cage.

"He waved at me!"

"No, he was waving at me!" Two of the girls beside me argued, and I rolled my eyes. They couldn't be more than twelve. Then again, I hadn't been much better when I first played Twilight Princess.

When the time was nearing its end, Purlo started to grin. He thought Link wasn't going to make it. With just three more to go, and five seconds left, I admit I was a little worried myself. He got the three of them in one blow, and I jumped up with a cheer. The three younger girls were cheering and clapping right alongside me.

That was _so _much cooler than the game version.

Purlo wasn't nearly as happy as I was. In fact, he looked horrified.

"Im-Impossible..." he muttered to himself, before opening the cage for Link. He received a raised eyebrow, and quickly spoke again to save his dignity. "Er... Oh, what a happy day that is! The debut of a new star! Showers of applause all around!" I knew I wasn't the only one to tell that Purlo's tone was fake, but Link didn't seem to care.

Purlo began rummaging through the bag behind him, trying to find something. "To the star...I shall give _THIS_!" The game maker pulled out a large quiver. If I was right, it held double the arrows of the one Link currently had. Sixty arrows could fit in it, adding to our combined thirty-arrow quivers, which made for a hundred and twenty arrows. Adding the Huge quiver we'd get later, that was _two _hundred and twenty.

"...Very well! The next stage will be one created just for _you_, good sir! I would expire should you decline! Please, you must try it when it is ready!"

It didn't take much persuasion; it seemed Link really _had _enjoyed the game. On our way out, I could have sworn I heard Purlo mutter under his breath.

"Pbbbth! I shall remember this... "

"What was that?" I called, pretending I hadn't heard.

"Oh! N-Nothing! Just... hoping to see the two of you again! When I... make my new stage!" Purlo stammered, waving us away as we exited the tent. The three girls from earlier caught us moments after we stepped out, swarming and fawning over Link and 'how amazing and handsome he was'. I sighed, trying _really_ hard not to laugh, I swear I tried, but I couldn't help a few snickers behind my hand.

Somehow he managed to get away from them, and we were headed to Telma's finally.

"They seemed...thrilled."

I laughed openly, though not unkindly.

"Fangirls will be fangirls. You should see some of the ones on Earth." I listed off a few I remembered having some pretty squealy fangirls; Twilight, Justin Bieber, I wasn't as sure about Avengers, but their fan-base was pretty equally divided male and female.

"Speaking of Avengers, I'm kinda disappointed I'm never going to see it again. It was a good movie." And _then_ came the explanation of what exactly Avengers was. That was all I talked about on the way to Telma's. We passed Agitha's house along the way, her stalker trying to peek into the window.

"That's really creepy, I hope you know," I called behind me when we passed. That guy always irritated me in the game, but I knew Link was too polite to say anything about it. I heard him spluttering, trying to form a response, but we were already too far ahead.

"But how can the suit fly if it's made of metal?" Link asked when I tried explaining Iron Man, as we entered Telma's bar.

"Because Tony Stark made it? I don't know. And I don't think it could happen anyways. The amount of energy needed to make the suit fly is... more than _my_ Earth was ever capable of. Maybe in another decade or three. "Thor, though, Thor is... plausible, given my experience with other worlds lately, but still. Captain America, also possible, but less likely." Our conversation about superheroes ended there, as Telma had come to greet us.

"How've you been, honey? You both look a sight better than I thought you would, after the letter Renado sent me." No doubt the shaman had mentioned the drowning, electric shock, cracked ribs and severe bruising we'd sustained by the time we returned to the village oh-so-long ago.

"It _has_ been a while since he sent it." I reminded her. "We're fine now, and I'm pretty sure we won't be drowning anytime soon."

"I sure hope not, sweetie. Now that you're here, let me introduce you to my friends I told you about." Telma turned to the three people in the back room, gathered around the far right table. "Hey, everyone! Introduce yourselves!" Three more sets of eyes turned to us, though one was covered by a helmet. Rusl, I remembered, was sitting on the right head of the table. Shad, the scholar, was on the left end, Ashei against the far wall. She looked the least friendly of the bunch, but I wasn't too worried.

"This handsome young man is Link, and I'm sure Lillian's already told you all about Rose by now."

Turning to us again, Telma added, "There's one more of us, but there's been a disturbance in the eastern desert, he's gone to check it out." Auru. "If you happen to meet him, take the time to talk with him.

Telma left us to our introductions from there, from reuniting with Rusl -who, it turned out, had stopped by Kakariko why we were in the lakebed temple- to meeting Shad and Ashei. Shad practically had a field day when I mentioned Earth. He was utterly captivated, almost reminding me of Arthur Weasley.

I answered his questions to the best of my ability, but some weren't all that easy to explain. The government systems, the number of countries and continents on Earth -I didn't even know for sure how many countries there were on Earth- among the harder ones, but probably _the_ hardest was technology, like my phone.

"I don't know how it works, I just know it communicates with other phones. Not here, because there _aren't_ any here, but on Earth there's billions."

We only stayed for a few minutes after that before we had to get going.

"We've got to meet with the shade again before we go to Lake Hylia." I reminded Link before we could warp away. "And then there's another howling stone by the lake that we can get before meeting with Auru."

"You've got the map, lead the way."

So I led him back up the stairs, further down the Southern Thoroughfare, and back onto Hyrule Field. This exit pointed towards the Faron and Ordon provinces, though the path was blocked by what looked to be a nasty rockslide.

Agitha was in this smaller field, too. The self-titled Princess of Bugs seemed to be looking for golden bugs in the field, while the golden ladybug was somewhere in this courtyard. When we came down the massive stairs from the courtyard, the girl saw us right away.

"Oh wow! I thought you were a giant grasshopper, and a ladybug!" she exclaimed as she rushed up to us. She was much...squeakier than I thought. Almost like a cartoon character. "But you're not bugs, you're people!"

She went on to say that she 'knew' we were bug lovers like her because we wore the colours, I didn't have the heart to tell her that I actually _really_ didn't like bugs. How could I? She was obsessed, it would have been easy to tell even without my foreknowledge.

From the pink butterfly wings seemingly sewn into the back of her dress, the earrings and necklace that resembled beetle shells, and the second butterfly on the front hem of her dress, I bet that even if I hadn't told Link about her before, her obsession with insects would be quite clear.

Agitha also introduced herself, and requested that we bring the golden bugs of the world to her 'castle'. An errant thought crossed my mind, not for the first time. I wondered who cared for her. Certainly not her creepy stalker, who peered in the window day and night. It was never shown in Twilight Princess, and Agitha was certainly too young to have known me before I was sent to Earth. I didn't want to come right out and ask, though.

As it turned out, there would be no need to distract her so Link could get to the golden wolf, she dismissed us and returned to bug hunting herself. Within moments, it seemed like she had forgotten us all together.

"She's a sweet girl, if a little strange." I thought aloud as we made our way over to the wolf.

The shade had given me the last of my powers from the goddesses already, so I wasn't taken to the ghostly ether for the next lesson. I supposed that was good, it meant I could keep an eye out.

While I waited, I started experimenting with Din's Fire. I hadn't been given the chance before, other than frying a Bulblin that had gotten too close, and the Helmasaur that chased us into town. I started with a simple fiery orb cupped in my hands, and started to play. I moved it around to see how I could control it, split it into several tinier fireballs and rejoined them, before throwing it into the side of the stone stairs. It extinguished in the time it took me to blink, barely leaving any mark on the white stones.

A thought occurred to me as I played; _I hope I don't become a firebug*. _Seeing as we'd just met the self-proclaimed princess of bugs, the wording of the thought made me laugh.

Link awoke from his lesson soon after, now equipped with the Helm Splitter if my memory served correct.

* * *

"Why do you think you've been given magic, and I'm given new skills?" Link asked upon warping to Lake Hylia, shifting back into humans.

"Probably because the Goddesses know that I'm hopeless with a sword. Or maybe because I already know your hidden skills?" I shrugged. He shrugged with me, though added, "You're getting better," to my comment about my skills with a sword.

We started across the irregular land masses that made the southwestern shore of Lake Hylia. I wondered, jumping from one platform to the other, if the designers added this part in just to be annoying. It certainly seemed that way.

After making a short ladder climb, we came across the fourth howling stone.

There was no need for me to howl the song with link, so I was left waiting again. I tried talking with midna, but she didn't seem to be in a very chatty mood.

I admired the lake instead, like I hadn't been able to in the Twilight, nor on our way to the Lakebed Temple. It was all so _alive_, fish and Zoras were swimming freely, even the wind swirling around me, carrying the smell of the fresh water and grass, seemed to be alive. In the shallow areas closer to me, closer to the shore, there were many smaller fish and tadpoles. Some of the fish were hard to spot, dark and hiding, and others had scales like rainbows. Below them were many coloured stones. I remembered trying to make my mother a necklace of a green one, though I didn't remember how well it had gone, such a long time ago.

"Rose?"

Ah, Link was back.

"Met me guess; Mortal Draw, right?" It was kinda fun knowing stuff like that, even with the earlier issue with the Bulblin King's attack.

"Yeah, that's the one. Is that Auru up there?" Link pointed ahead of us, a few levels higher, to the stone tower that overlooked the desert. Someone was at the top.

"That's him." I confirmed, getting to my feet. A quick try at climbing the mess of sloping land that led to the level with the tower told me that I _definitely_ was not in the mood to negotiate with that. I grabbed Link's hand and used Farore's Wind to bring us past it. Magic really made this whole thing easier.

And, my fear of heights seemed to have gone away, I saw when we started climbing the ladder to the top of the tower. I risked a glance down when I was nearly to the top, and was pleasantly surprised to _not_ feel the familiar icy fear that curled in my stomach whenever I was somewhere high up looking down.

"I guess jumping off the bridge _did_ help..." I thought to myself.

Thankfully the tower was larger around than the game depicted, so there would be standing room when we reached the top.

It also provided a lovely view of the lake below; the misshapen rocks we'd come from, the boardwalk ahead of it that led to Lanayru's Spring and Fyer's cannon. I was still wondering how it managed to float above the lake's surface at all. It didn't look very balanced.

High above was the bridge we'd earlier crossed with Ralis, the recovering Zora prince, and to the East of that was Falbi's contribution to Fyer and Falbi's...ride, thing. The landing pad, and the way back down that didn't involve jumping off the bridge or warping.

"I thought it was about time for you to arrive..." Auru's gruff voice rumbled, as he turned to face us. "Master Link, yes? And how could I ever forget Rosalie?" he gaze turned to me, and a fond smile came to his face.

Auru had been like a grandfather/uncle to me when I was younger, it was good to see him again.

He looked mostly the same, just a few extra wrinkles.I'd never been more glad for the slowness of the Hylian aging process.** It meant I got to see my grandfather-uncle figure again, elsewise he'd be dead. Same with my mother and brother, along with...well, everyone I knew from Hyrule.

"You'd never forget me Auru, I'm irreplacable." I grinned. "And yes, this is Link." At the quick introduction, the two shook hands.

"I have heard of both of your deeds from Telma. Very brave, yes, very brave, but also... worrisome." One grey eyebrow raised, and he looked to me reproachfully. I sighed.

"Go ahead. I've already been given the 'You need to be more careful' speech more times than I can count." The older man chuckled at that.

"If that's the case, I'm sure you needn't hear it again. You have more the look of a fighter than when I saw you, before you and Link escorted Telma to Kakariko." he gestured to my clothes, more particularly the chainmail beneath my shirt. I laughed.

"Yeah, I think the goddesses got tired of my near-death experiences and decided to help me out a little." I shrugged.

I was glad he wasn't going to lecture me. I wasn't going to be scolded for something beyond my control. _Again_.

"Now, being the courageous youths I've heard so much about, you have likely heard of the strange events in the desert and have come to investigate, yes?" I feigned confusion, shaking my head. "Or... am I mistaken?" The man went on to explain, pointing towards the desert to the east, more specifically, some kind of structure in the distance, barely visible through the rippling heat visible over the lake's border.

"The Gerudo Desert once held a prison, built to hold the worst criminals this land has ever known... The ones sentenced to death were sent directly to the underworld by a cursed mirror kept in the prison." Out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw Midna flinch in Link's shadow. "The prison is condemned now, and the road leading to the desert is impassable." He pointed more to our right, where the road used to be. Not even a goron could clear that path, it looked to be caved in completely.

"It still holds the cursed mirror, that prison... and all the malice of the doomed inmates... I may be old, but I feel it in my bones that the evil plaguing Hyrule is linked to that wicked place..." The man frowned deeply, closing his eyes.

"How long do you think it'd take to travel there, if we had a way over?" Link asked. The serious expression mixed with worry and incredulity.

"Don't tell me you plan to enter the prison and confirm my suspicions with your own eyes?" He looked between us, and our expressions must have convinced him.

"I see... then let good old Auru help you out... assuming there's no way to convince you _not_ to..." continuing to mumble under his breath, Auru pulled out a scrap of paper, scribbling a hasty note and handing it to me. "You see Lake Hylia below us? That man, Fyer, runs an amusement ride of sorts. Give this to him. I saved his life some time ago, and he helps whenever I call in a favour. Leave it to him, it should go well." He assured us. "I, on the other hand... I think I'll be returning to Castle Town quite soon, see if we can do anything to get back into the castle."

Auru's words reminded me that Zelda was no longer in Hyrule Castle. I almost told him there was nothing he or anybody in Castle Town could do, but held my tongue.

"It was good to see you again," I said instead. "Safe travels, watch out for Bulblins." I added after, making to climb back down the ladder.

"You too, Rosalie. It was good to meet you, Link. You watch out for her, okay?" He said something else to Link, but I didn't catch it.

"We've got each others' backs, Auru, don't worry!" I called, taking a shorter route and simply allowing myself to fall. Nayru's Love, my crystal barrier, softened the landing as it had done so many times before, like when I decided to jump off the bridge.

"I don't think that reassured him at all, Rose." Link chided when he rejoined me on the ground. I shrugged at him.

"You should see my brothers. And I'm sure _he_," I pointed back up to Auru. "Would _love_ to meet Bethany, the dragon-shifting thrill-seeker."

That made him laugh, saying that I had a point.

"My brothers would drive Auru up a tree. Dean and Braeden especially. Dean's the oldest, he knows how to be an annoying older brother, and Braeden's the youngest. He knows how to be an annoying baby brother. Anthony's just all-around annoying. But... they're my brothers just as much as Roran is."

I told him more about the three as we made our way to Fyer; How Dean was the one to introduce me to Legend of Zelda, Anthony held my hand on the way to the hospital after my fall out of the tree, how Braeden and I constantly got involved in Dean and Anthony's prank wars.

"You miss them." It wasn't a question. I just nodded.

"Yep. Not much I can do about it. Besides, even if I could go back... my responsibilities are here, and I don't want to let you or anybody else in Hyrule down."

Fyer perked right up when the two of us approached, his green and yellow hat nearly falling from his head as he jumped up to greet us. We returned it, but got to business quickly.

"We need your help. Auru sent us." I held out the note he'd written. The stout man took it, humming thoughtfully as he read it.

"Hrrrm... From old Auru, huh... Ah well, I guess I oughta do what the old coot says... Oasis flight...right? So here you go, one of our secret options not available to the general public... This time's all paid for...so whaddaya say? You wanna go?"

Link and I both nodded, and the man stepped out of the way. He pointed to the open cannon.

"All right then... But remember, next time, you gotta pay! Sweet sailing, buddies of mine. Two for oasis..."

I wasn't sure how well this was going to go. The flight up to Falbi's wasn't nearly as far as halfway across the expanse of the lake, and into the desert. I realized I'd been shaking when Link put a hand on my shoulder.

"It'll be fine, we'll be okay." However, I heard nervousness in his voice as well.

"Fire in the hole!" Fyer shouted from outside, and with a deafening boom, we were flying.

* * *

_A/N: So, I hope this wasn't too bad for a first chapter. Not too slow? Either way, happy anniversary!_

_(I swear, the universe was against me writing this on time, but I sure showed it! Hah! First I was sick, then the internet was down, then I lost my notebook, then I sprained my fingers just today so I could barely type, but I finished it! Yay!)_

_PS. '*'s will be placed where I see fit to add an explanation at the end of the chapter. _

_* a firebug is basically a pyromaniac. _

_**I have a theory that Hylians age slower than humans, somewhat like the Elves in Lord of the Rings, but on a _much_ smaller scale._

_Also, yay, Rose isn't afraid of heights anymore! Well, she's afraid within reason, but it's not as bad as it was before._


	2. Back Into the Fray

_A/N: Glad to see so many people liked part 2! Also, turns out that my gimp finger is more focused on the knuckle, so I can still type but I can't bend it :/ Still hurts, not nearly as much as some of the stuff I've put Link and Rose through in here. _

_Quick thing to add! There's one point in the scene where I shift to a 3rd person viewpoint. It is not a dream, but it's in italics to differentiate between Rose's POV and third person._

_Here's the review replies!_

_Chaos Spirit44: See you...now, I guess. Thanks for reviewing!_

_LordWoodrow: Wow, I've never had a story be called a masterpiece before, thank you so much!_

_RandomButLoved: The chapter could not go on until I made those references :3 And it wouldn't be complete without the STAR game! As for avengers, I'm on a bit of a roll with those guys since I saw Winter Soldier. Hope you like the chapter hon! (Also, glad you like Rose, that was what I was going for with her character)._

_Thisreadingotaku: Well, you won't have to wait for this chapter anymore, I'm glad you liked it :)_

_Godofmadness43: Yeah, I figured it was about time I explained that. I'm sure there were at least a few people confused initially when Rose met Lilliandil._

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: Ah! Hello there! You won't have to wait for much longer for another moment, buuuuut it comes at a wee bit of a price. Fluffy, but also a little not-so-fun stuff coming up._

_Thisreadingotaku: Well, you won't have to wait for this chapter anymore, I'm glad you liked it _

_Godofmadness43: Yeah, I figured it was about time I explained that. I'm sure there were at least a few people confused initially when Rose met Lilliandil._

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: Ah! Hello there! You won't have to wait for much longer for another moment, buuuuut it comes at a wee bit of a price. Fluffy, but also a little not-so-fun stuff coming up. _

_Maddie (Guest): I'm going to take a wild guess that 'test' is meant to be 'rest', dear? All the same, I'm glad you decided to read. _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 2: Back Into the Fray

When we get back, I'm going to have a little chat with Fyer about the safety of his 'Oasis Flight'…" I grumbled, shaking an abundance of sand from my boot. The cannon ride had made a well enough flight as far as cannons go, and the sand had made a soft-enough landing, but that wasn't to say it was enjoyable. It almost wasn't worth the mouthful of sand, and the rest of it getting _everywhere_.

"We're here, aren't we? And in one piece? That's the important part." Link reminded me, dumping a heap of sand out of his hat and shaking out his tunic. He had a point, I supposed.

"Alright, you've got me there, but I'm _never _doing that again unless I have to." I insisted, slipping my boots back on and unsteadily getting to my feet. The sand may have made a good landing pad, but a stable floor it did not. "Shall we?" I gestured to the miles of desert we had in front of us.

"_Wait…" _Midna stopped us, rising from Link's shadow. _"Before we go on… I want the two of you to hear something._" She said softly. There was something in her voice, I knew what it was but I couldn't put a word to it._ "…Do you remember what the light spirit said about the Fused Shadows?"_

Link gave a single nod of his head, Midna knew she wouldn't need clarification from me and continued on.

"_What do you think happened to the magic wielders who tried to rule the Sacred Realm?" _the question was rhetorical, neither I nor Link spoke. _ "…they were banished, chased across the sacred lands of Hyrule and driven into another realm by the goddesses."_

The imp took a steadying breath, as her voice had wavered somewhere between anger and… something else.

"_It was another world entirely… the antithesis of Hyrule, where the sun shines bright. Its denizens became shadows that could not mingle with the light."_ It was then that I could finally put a word to the emotions in Midna's voice; morose, dismayed, bitter.

She sighed. "_Eventually, most came to call it the Twilight Realm, and from it, none could return to the world of light... They were forever doomed to live in the twilight, flitting in the half-light of dusk, mere shadows of Hyrule…"_

Still, we said nothing. The fact that Midna – mysterious Midna, who generally avoided questions about herself and her people – was opening up, talking about her people, was new and surprising, neither of us wanted to break the spell, have her close off again.

"_This is the history of the Twili as it has been passed down from our Ancestors… do you now understand what I am?" _she paused again, looking from Link to me. I saw an angry heat come to her eyes, and the moroseness was overtaken by something else.

"_I'm a descendent of the tribe that was banished to the Twilight Realm!"_ she snarled angrily. Beneath that anger, I saw something else, a few 'something else's. That same bitterness, sadness… shame?

She continued on, calmer after that, saying that the Twilight had been peaceful… until Zant took over, that he had to have found power through some outside force, unknown to her people. She wasn't able to get back into the Twilight Realm without his power. _That _was why we needed the Mirror of Twilight. Which, unfortunately, was on the other side of the desert. In a prison full of dead people. Joy.

"_It's our only path to the Twilight Realm now, and we must get there! You… you'll come with me, won't you?" _

"Of course I will." Link instantly spoke up, and I was quick to follow.

"Definitely." I felt myself smiling as I said it. Midna's eyes lit up, though her eyes betrayed her worry. Worry that we would back out when we got there? That we were lying to her? Either way, it faded in an instant.

"_I… thank you, both of you…" _She said nothing more before returning to the shadows.

It was then that the two of us returned our attention to the desert ahead of us. To our right, further southwest, was some kind of structure. From here, it looked almost like a tower. It took a moment, looking through the rippling heat, to identify it through memory as the Bridge of Eldin. I pointed towards it, nudging Link's arm.

"We should check that out. I think I know what it is, and I know for sure there's a portal we can get over there, but I'd need to get closer to be sure it is… what I think it is." I hoped he'd say yes, it would make it easier than doubling back for it later, like we'd already have to do for the Shadow Beasts at the bridge.

"You're sure there's a portal over there?" Link asked.

"Yes. And, if I'm right, that's the Bridge of Eldin. We can't take it back quite yet, we still have to take care of the Shadow Beasts and get the portal back there. No portal, no returning the bridge."

"…We can still get the portal over there though, right?" he confirmed, and I nodded again. "Then we'll go." He went to start forward – nearly slipping on the sand – and I spoke up.

"Thank you, for trusting my judgment on this."

Link paused for a moment, I figured considering his words for a moment.

"You told Auru that we've got each other's backs, and you weren't wrong. That means trusting each other, too. And if you're sure that something important's over there, that's enough for now." He said simply. That made sense. You couldn't very well watch your partner's back if you didn't trust them to watch yours.

"Still, thank you."

Now came the _fun_ part.

* * *

I take it back. Traversing miles of desert with...what was it, three layers of clothing – one of which was a heavy shirt of chainmail – on top of a very much metal sword and shield that heated under the bare sun, it made for a severely unpleasant journey.

I'd had the foresight to get an extra bottle of water before we left Kakariko, and I was now very glad that I did.

Unfortunately, the heat wasn't the worst of our issues; monsters, it seemed, had infested even this corner of Hyrule. Moldorms, little triple-fanged sandpaper-skinned burrowing creatures, possibly the most abundant and the most irritating of all of them. There was also the occasional pack of Leevers, weird plant-looking things. So long as we kept our distance and took them out quick, they posed no threat.

Hoping to save time, Link and I turned into wolves to run. It worked, we covered a lot more ground that way, but the fur made the heat several times worse. Link's fur was a dark charcoal-grey; it absorbed a lot of heat. Mine, however, was white and red; it reflected more light than it absorbed, but it didn't make it much better.

We had to stop about halfway to the stolen bridge, the heat proving to be too much.

"I guess it makes sense for a prison to be way out here…" I thought aloud. "Even if a prisoner escaped, they'd have to cross all of this…" I muttered, wiping at my face. We'd miraculously found a shady place to sit, though it was little relief. However, I knew something was better than nothing at all.

We'd gone through two bottles of water already, half of our supply, even drinking as sparingly as we were.

"We can go back for more after we get that portal." Link reassured me when he saw my worried expression. I nodded, returning the two empty bottles to my bag and pushing sweaty bangs back from my face for what felt like the hundredth time.

"If I ever get back to Earth, I'll never complain about summers in Alberta again." I groaned. Sure, the heat waves were pretty bad, but they had nothing on this. Link gave a weary laugh.

"Hearing the villagers complaining about summer heat waves seems so silly now." He added. "Even some of Ordon's hottest days can't compare with this."

Link and I exchanged stories while we rested; he told me about the time Ilia got stuck in a tree beside the ranch, I told him about one of Bethany's numerous pranks around the school – she'd nearly gotten suspended, save for the fact that nobody could prove it was her that switched the staff room's stock of Decaf for Espresso. Then I had to explain what the difference between Decaf and Espresso was.

A few minutes became a few hours, and the sun was preparing to set by the time we set to press on. The dark made it harder to spot Moldorms before they could jump out at us, and a few times they came in burrowing swarms.

Link clued in that he could use the clawshot to pull them from the ground before they leaped, which made the fights a little easier. It didn't help in the way of dodging when the creatures jumped up from the sand. The sandpapery appearance of the Moldorms' skin was telling, and made for uncomfortable scratches if they so much as glanced by you. The fangs were another matter entirely. Especially when one nearly bit your hand off.

"Ow! You could be a little gentler!" I muttered, a hiss escaping clenched teeth.

"Sorry."

The aforementioned Moldorms' fangs had caused a bit of trouble when I failed to dodge an attack, and was paying the price in the form of a deep, angry red gash on my left palm. Links was smoothing the bandage over my hand, wrapping it a few times, but every time he so much as brushed across the cut I got the urge to flinch away, pull my hand out of his grasp.

The hands tending to mine gave a sympathetic squeeze whenever I winced at the pain. It wasn't the worst of any injuries I'd accumulated, not by a long shot, but it seriously stung.

"There. That should hold, and keep the sand out." With one last squeeze, Link released my hand. I let it settle on my lap, ignoring the throbbing in favour of digging my cloak from my bag. A small fire crackled beside us, though there wasn't much in the desert to keep it going, nor did it provide the needed warmth. The desert may have been scorching in the day, but it was much colder once the sun set.

"Thank you." I said gratefully, lying down beside the fire, the hood of my cloak folded to make a pillow.

"It's no trouble. You can get some rest, I'll take the first watch." He offered, taking a seat not too far from where I was situated. I nodded, again grateful.

"Wake me up if something comes our way." I said needlessly, I knew he would but it was slowly becoming routine to say it.

"Of course. Good night, Rose."

My sleep was anything but peaceful during that watch, plagued with frightening and vivid images.

* * *

_The first, the most vivid, was also the most terrifying; The Bulblin riders –that weren't supposed to be headed our way until we reached the northern half of the desert– were riding towards our campsite in a pack of a dozen or more bulbos, two riders on each. They were shooting flaming arrows at Link, paying no attention to me, like I wasn't even there. I tried to use Nayru's Love, tried to protect Link like I had during my training session with my father and the Shade, but nothing happened. No crystal barrier was there to stop the arrows from hitting him. _

_Why wasn't my magic working?! _

"_Link!" I shouted, running forward to help him, maybe heal him like I had in the Lanayru Twilight - or, I tried to run. I couldn't move, I was stuck. A new arrow cut through the air and embedded itself directly in Link's chest, and I heard myself scream as he fell to the ground, dead, and the bulblins roared in victory._

* * *

_The nightmare shifted; I was still stuck, but this time Link was stuck too _–_ in a pit of sinking sand. He tried to climb out, called out for me to help him, but I was unable to move. I wasn't trapped in sand like he was, I was just... stuck. _

"_Rose, help!" a rare edge of panic I'd heard only once before was in Link's voice again, the sand inching up his chest. He had one arm extended towards me, begging for me to pull him out._

"_I can't, I'm sorry!" I called, reaching my hands out and stopping just short of his. Again, my magic was useless. The sand rose again as he struggled, reaching his neck. I cried helplessly as his head disappeared beneath the sand seconds later. _

"_**Link**__!"_

* * *

"It's okay, you're safe, it's okay!" Suddenly, Link's voice was in my ears. Relief flooded through me – he was alive, he was okay. With a half-choked cry, I threw my arms around him. I didn't care that grains of sand stuck in Link's tunic scratched at my face, I held him tightly as the last vestiges of the dream faded from my mind.

Link said nothing through it all; simply being there, alive and well, was enough comfort. It was a long time before I spoke, answering the question I knew Link wanted to ask, though he was probably unsure about doing so; What had I dreamed that had been so terrifying?

"You died… _twice_. The archers got you, then you were stuck in sinking sand… Y-you asked me for help, but I couldn't..." I mumbled. "That can't – I can't – I _won't _let that happen. I couldn't… my magic wasn't working, but it will out here. I won't let you die…"

Link's fingers of his free hand began to run through my hair, pulling free a few tangles; after a minute or two, the soothing motion began to help me relax.

"After everything we've gone up against, you really think I'm going to let a bunch of trolls do me in?" Link asked above me, tucking my head under his chin. I shrugged.

"They almost did _me _in." I reminded him. The hand moving through my hair paused for a fraction of a second, his other arm tightening around my shoulders. "Sorry, just making a point." I said apologetically.

"It's okay, it's not like it was your fault." He dissuaded.

"Aside from my inability to concentrate, which was what got me shot with a poisoned arrow to begin with." I argued. "But that's besides the point. What about the sinking sand? We're in the bloody _Gerudo Desert_, there's bound to be a few patches of that around, what if... what if I couldn't save you?" My voice weakened on the question. I couldn't imagine what would happen if Link died.

He was the goddesses Chosen Hero, a descendent of the Hero of Time, he _had_ to live. Me... what was I? The chosen bearer of a goddess that most people had forgotten. Nowhere near as important, that was for sure. I couldn't do this without him, surely couldn't gather the pieces of the Mirror of Twilight, defeat Zant and Ganondorf. Hell, without him I wouldn't have made it past Hyrule Castle's dungeon.

"…You feel like going back to sleep?" Link's voice brought my from my reverie. At the memory of my nightmare, I shivered, but slowly nodded my head.

"Lie down with me, just until I fall asleep?" I asked softly. I felt like such a child for asking, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep by myself.

"Okay." Link shifted so he could lie back, pulling me down beside him. My head rested on his shoulder and upper arm, though the chainmail wasn't the most comfortable pillow. I could ignore it for the sake of the feeling of security – even if it was somewhat false, given where we were – felt in Link's closeness.

With a whispered, 'Thank you,' I felt myself drifting off again, knowing that no more nightmares would plague my sleep that night.

* * *

_Rose had barely been asleep a few hours before she grew restless. Midna was the first to point it out, actually._

_Link had tried to pass it off as discomfort from their current bed - a flat rock to keep Moldorms from burrowing beneath them - or from the cold, until her magic started acting up. _

_Her hands were twitching, flashes of her familiar blue shield - Nayru's Love - continuously cropping up around their campsite (usually around him). Little mumbles and whimpers escaped her, before a strangled cry came from her throat and echoed around them, possibly for miles._

_Just as he made to wake her, the restlessness and magic ceased. Well, for a few minutes. Then, it seemed Farore's Wind had decided to cause trouble, stirring up around Rose a few times, nearly extinguishing their campfire, but nothing more before he heard Rose begin to cry._

"_Link!"_

_That one word, his name, was filled with so much _pain_, it surprised him. _

_Whatever she was dreaming of, he wasn't going to let it go on a second longer._

_Crawling over to her, Link tried to wake the younger girl. First it was gently, hoping to rouse her without startling, but her cries didn't stop. It was only when he moved to hold her closer, offer what comfort he could while she still slept, that she woke. She was panicked, so afraid, and all he could do was hold her and tell her everything was okay._

_After several minutes, the shuddering breaths and trembling body had somewhat calmed. Rose told him about her nightmare, had muttered a self-depreciating train of thought that Link was sure she didn't know she'd spoken aloud, before asking Link to lie with her and going to sleep again._

_Rose had a point with her worry, Link was loathe to admit it even to himself, but she did. How many times had the two of them stared death in the face already in the last few months? It wasn't so unbelievable that they could get caught off guard, and he very well could die. Rose would end up having to go the rest of the way alone, if at all. _She_ could die. If they did, Hyrule was lost. _

_Suddenly, Link felt very heavy with that realization, that so much was riding on his and Rose's survival and success. Not just his family, but everybody in Hyrule. He'd known, of course, but it hadn't been allowed to properly sink in._

_With that train of thought occupying his mind, Link hardly noticed when he himself fell asleep alongside Rose._

* * *

"That is… definitely the Bridge of Eldin."

After at least two hours of walking the next day – both as a wolf and as a human – details of the structure ahead of us became clear.

From what I could see the only challenge, aside from avoiding Moldorms and the occasional bunch of Leevers, was actually getting to the bridge. It was positioned on top of an elevated section of rock, on top of a larger level, on top of a larger level. Essentially, three floors above us.

"There's supposed to be peahats flying around here…" I muttered, wondering if we hadn't missed them somewhere, or that they hadn't come out yet, but… nope, they weren't there. Not even the one on the first level, where there was supposed to be a tree. "They're not easy to miss, they pretty much look like a giant ball of roots with a bunch of leaves at the top!" I exclaimed, frustrated.

"What about Farore's Wind?" Link suggested.

"Yeah, we could use that, but it's frustrating that the peahats aren't here like they should be." I grumbled. "Right, let's do this. I'm pretty sure the Shadow Beasts aren't gonna try to ambush us until we get to the top, but be ready in case I'm wrong." I said, grabbing Link's hand and using Farore's Wind. We set down on the second 'floor', waited a moment; nothing happened. I brought us up to the third, still no sign of the monsters. _Yet. _

We headed across to what looked like a staircase carved from the plateau, leading to the top level. We hadn't seen those from the bottom, it would make getting up to the bridge easier, when the time came.

Midway across the third level of the plateau, I stopped.

"Wait for it," I held up a hand. A fraction of a second later, the dark pillars dropped around us, blocking our way to the bridge. "Called it." I added when three Shadow Beasts dropped around us.

It was hardly a fight, to be honest, and it was over in less than two minutes. In our usual fashion, I took on the lone Shadow Beast in the corner beside the stairs while Link and Midna took out the other two. And thus, another portal.

"_What a weird place to put this..." _Midna mumbled, taking it on herself to examine the stolen piece of bridge, once the Shadow Beasts had been confirmed dead, the portal forming in the air above us.

"It's hard to find a guy like Zant's motive for anything, let alone where he decides to hide a stolen bridge." I shrugged. "Either way, we've got the portal now. I don't think I'm the only one who thinks it's a good idea to restock on water before we continue on, so... back to Lake Hylia?"

* * *

The trip from the newly-revealed Cave of Ordeals to the bulblin camp outside the Arbiters' Grounds -once we'd convinced ourselves to head back, after restocking our water supply at the lake- wasn't nearly as long, but the temperature had skyrocketed as morning slowly shifted to afternoon.

Hidden behind a group of boulders, partially to keep out of the bulblin sentries' sight and partially to take a breather in the shade, the two of us scoped out the camp's outer defenses.

Using the Hawkeye I'd bought from Malo's shop in Kakariko - a nifty little device that kind of worked like binoculars, even if it looked a little silly - I counted out the sentries. Four were standing atop shoddily-built towers, and I counted another six on the ground.

"There's more than there's supposed to be..." I muttered to myself.

"What is that?" Link asked. Removing the Hawkeye, I saw that it was what he was looking at.

"A Hawkeye. I bought it before we left Kakariko." I replied. "You can see pretty far off with it, and there's nearly a dozen bulblins over there. More than there should be for border patrol." I pointed towards the encampment.

Link took the Hawkeye to look for himself, before nodding.

"That does seem strange." he agreed. "We should wait til dark. We'll have the advantage of surprise if they can't see us coming." It made sense, even if I wasn't entirely enthusiastic about sitting around for several hours. At least the rocks made for good protection from the sun and the moldorms.

Nightfall couldn't come soon enough, however. When it did, Link gave me his bow, justification being I'd had more practice than him.

Taking one last look before we moved forward, I saw that the bulblins on the ground were all asleep, two of the ones on the towers looked ready to fall off.

Piece of cake. I couldn't say the same for the camp itself, but _this_ was going to be fun.

"I'll take out the ones on the towers before they can sound an alarm. You can get the ones on the ground, right?" I asked. Link nodded. "Good. You should turn into a wolf, you'll be able to move faster, less chance of them waking up when the other ones fall."

Then they departed, running towards the camp. I would wait about a minute before taking out the tower guards, make sure they could get the ones on the ground before any of them woke up.

_There_.

I shot off an arrow, one of the bulblins fell from its tower. Setting another arrow, I took aim at one of the others, the only one that had taken notice of the first one falling. My arrow clipped the crude horned helmet the monster wore, just enough to send it careening off the side of the tower. By now, Link and Midna were fighting the ones on the ground who had woken up. I rushed to join them after I took the third tower guard out, but not in time to take the last one , it seemed fate would solve that for me.

One of the boar-like creatures - bulbos, I think they were - had become agitated at the fighting, and ended up charging headfirst into the tower the remaining guard stood upon. Shoddily-built as they were, those towers didn't stand a chance against something like that.

"Well, that makes my job easier..." I thought aloud, returning my fourth arrow to the quiver and moving to join Link and Midna. They seemed to be holding their own, there were only a few left; the one I'd sent flying had apparently not died, and three of the six that had originally been on the ground were still alive. Link was human again, and watching him fight was both mesmerizing as well as startling; It wasn't like I hadn't seen him fighting before, but something was different this time. I couldn't tell what it was, his form or just that it was the Master Sword he was using, but _something_ had changed.

I was caught off guard when a different bulblin - having apparently been playing possum - tackled me to the ground from the side. My sword flew out of my hand, skidding across the sand and away. Before I was even consciously aware of what I was doing, there was a ball of fire in my hand, and it flew up into the bulblin's face. The attack left it stunned and in pain, giving me the opportunity I needed to throw it off me and grab my sword again. I thrust the blade forward, dispatching the creature before it could recover.

Just like that, it was over. The only sounds were Link and I gasping for breath, the crackling of the fire, and the desert wind blowing around us.

It was a long while before either of us spoke, listening to see if the sounds of fighting had drawn anymore of the bulbin camp. After another minute of total silence, Link deemed it safe to continue forward.

Into the heart of a bulblin camp surrounding the entrance to a cursed prison, that sounded awesome.

_What could possibly go wrong?_

* * *

_A/N: This is a little longer than I would have liked, but I just couldn't stop! I apologize for having taken so long, I've been sick lately :/ Hope you liked it though!_


	3. The Showdown

_A/N: Unfortunately I don't think there'll be any cutesy moments between Link and Rose this chapter. There's quite a lot of fighting though, for those of you who enjoy stuff like that! :)_

_Here's our review replies!_

_SimplySupreme: I'm getting better, it's not nearly as bad as yesterday, but still kinda sucky. Also, yes for long chapters. And character development is always a good thing to have. And could it possibly be foreshadowing? *evil laughs* (I'm joking. I swear.) _

_Keep Calm and be Ninja: Indeed he has! Though he __**realized**__ it, it may take a little longer to sink in. That process has only just started, though he finds out more from the sages later._

_Godofmadness43: Of course it does, and Rose knows it. I suppose it's harder than I thought to convey sarcasm via text, but she very well knows there's many things that could go wrong here, not to mention her nightmares._

_Quick question also - chapter 6 of this story is going to have the Stallord battle and I decided to name it 'Why Flying Skeletons Aren't Allowed'. Should I change that? Let me know!_

* * *

Chapter 3: Showdown

After making our way through a maze of rocks and meeting up with the Hero's Shade again, we'd found our way to the bulblin fortress. I counted three more guard towers this time around, and took them out quickly. It was harder to see now as the night grew darker, but with the help of the hawkeye, they were hardly a problem.

An errant thought ran through my head as I took aim at the last of the tower bulblins I could see; what if I got a crossbow?

I knew that a crossbow was different from a regular bow and arrow, but it sounded cool. I could find a place in castle town, maybe we could get one in the Castle Town Malo Mart when it opened, if it wasn't already. I knew there was one in the Link's Crossbow Training game, and non-canonical spin-off or not, it had to have come from somewhere.

Getting back on task, though promising myself to bring up the idea of a crossbow later, I loosed the third arrow, and the tower bulblin fell.

"They catch us, they'll raise all hell." I whispered. "Basically, don't let them catch you. If they do, take them out before they raise an alarm."

The sand worked in our favour as we moved towards the entrance to the fortress, quieting our footsteps. There was one bulbin in sight, save for the ones I'd shot down, once we reached the front gate. It was sleeping. That was the other advantage to waiting til dark, it meant more would be sleeping. But, as I'd quickly learned upon coming to Hyrule, I couldn't expect things to flow quite the same way as they had in the videogame. So I wouldn't let myself get too cocky, I'd be careful. I may not have thought much of my importance in this quest, but I still knew it would hurt Link - and my other friends, of course - if I died. I couldn't put it on Link to have to tell them something like that for one, and for two... what could happen to the Spiritus Potens if I died?

"Rose?"

I blinked, shaking my head. If I was telling myself to be careful, not getting lost in my thoughts was the first step.

"Sorry about that. I was distracted." I apologized, before we were moving forward again.

The fortress had high walls, so unless you looked through the cracks and broken pieces, you couldn't see what was ahead of you. It was really inconvenient, and may have made me more than a little paranoid about more tower guards. Two times it was a wasted arrow, and once it was worth it.

The next bulblin we came across looked to be on the brink of sleep, and very nearly noticed us. We hadn't seen it at first, it was hidden by a barrel when we rounded the corner, but we were _very_ lucky we had been able to take it out before it raised the alarm. There was another tower some distance away ahead of us, barely visible above another wall, but it didn't look like we'd been seen.

The walls grew shorter, then, and it appeared we'd found the bulblin campsites amidst the ruins. Tents, fires, and - a dead bulbo, roasting above one of the fires.

I guessed that was what happened when the animal outlived it's usefulness.

Having taken out the tower guards in this section of the camp, it was no trouble to take the two bulblins in this part of the camp out with swords, instead of using the arrows we were slowly running out of. I'd forgotten _my_ quiver in Kakariko village. Wait... no, I'd left it on purpose, since Bethany had expressed interest in archery practice, and Scott just so happened to have a bow and a quiver with no arrows. I'd wanted to save him the rupees, and he'd wanted to teach her.

That lack of a quiver aside, we'd also had a _lot_ of enemies to shoot in the last two days. And, while I was getting better, I still wasn't a perfect shot, so...

The path ahead of us came to a halt, suddenly shifting to our left and to a lower level. More high walls where we could be caught off guard, lovely. I nearly fell more than a few times, as the decline on loose sand made for rather disagreeable stability.

There was another bulblin, sleeping in front of a locked gate. I was _pretty_ sure we were going to have another showdown with the King Bulblin in there, but I couldn't tell one hundred percent. Funny, you'd think after having played this through at least a dozen times, I _would_ know for sure. We continued forward after taking it out, there was only _one more_ tower left, then we wouldn't have to worry as much about alarms. Seeing as I was almost out of arrows, I took a more hands-on approach with the final tower.

Well, if magic counts as 'hands-on'.

With Farore's Wind, I came up behind the bulblin and... shoved it off the edge. That made matters much simpler. There was two more on the ground, one of which I hadn't noticed sitting beside a pillar on the ground to my right, and the other which had the key to the locked gate. It was standing in front of _another_ cooking bulbo. Not that I liked those particular animals, but still. I'd prefer that _they_ lived rather than the bulblins eat them.

Link was taking care of the surprise bulblin, and I shot a fireball at the one holding the key. It was almost funny, considering it had been standing in front of the fire. It's charred back could be attributed to that if anybody investigated. Which... they wouldn't, but it was convenient if someone _had_.

I climbed down the tower, rejoining Link to grab the key. "I think that's the last of them." I said, though my voice was kept low in case I was wrong. There was really no way to tell, without looking in the tents. Or, if we got ambushed, which I really didn't want to happen. It was enough with the King Bulbin fight coming up.

"Yeah. You think this'll work on that gate back there?" Link pointed with his thumb in the direction we'd come from. I nodded, and we turned back in that direction.

A particularly strong gust of wind blew in from the desert, and it seemed the towers were shoddier than they looked. I turned at the sound of a wooden creak, wondering briefly where it was coming from before I was suddenly tackled to the sand a second time, moments before something threw sand up in the air and shook the ground, having landed _right where I'd been standing_.

Link was hovering above me in a sense, propped up on elbows and knees, to keep his weight off me but still shield me.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears, my breathing increased and adrenaline pulsed with each beat- because I'd been _right there_ and if Link hadn't tackled me-

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting up when the dust settled.

"Y-yeah, I just... wasn't expecting that." I turned my head, looking towards the collapsed mess of wood that had been one of the bulblin towers. "Wow. Nice reaction-time, thanks." I said gratefully, as he pulled me to stand up.

"No trouble. Come on, I think it's safe now. Well..." he stopped, and I laughed.

"'Safe' is relative, but I think you're right." I agreed.

The simple padlock could have been broken with a sword, but the key made it easier.

The moment we stepped inside the enclosure, two bulblins dropped from out of utterly nowhere -thinking on it now, they were probably on the roof of the makeshift stable- and pulled the wooden doors shut behind us, locking it again.

See, _that _wouldn't have happened if we broke the lock.

Venturing in further while not turning my back to our apparent guards, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong with this picture. Why hadn't they killed us yet, for one? Not that I was complaining, but those things _always_ attacked, King Bulblin or no.

"Rose, these things can break through that gate easily, come on!" Link grabbed my wrist, pulling me towards the boar/bulbo/warthog in the south -forward for us, currently- corner. It was too dark to see much of anything, unless we looked _really_ close. A foot appeared from the shadows, followed by an unfortunately familiar body and head, holding a giant battleaxe. King Bulbin.

_Now_ he decided to show. I wouldn't exactly be disappointed if he hadn't, though. He couldn't have just decided to give us a rest for once?

The horns on his helmet, formerly reaching nearly a foot above the King Bulblin's stature, were chipped and broken heavily from our previous fights. All of his fancy armor was gone, along with the shields he thought would protect him when last we met.

With an animalistic growl, he swung the battleaxe's flat side, smacking the bulbo out of the way like it was nothing, before swinging it in our direction. It was too fast, I couldn't raise Nayru's Love in time, and the air was knocked out of my lungs _twice_ when we were sent flying back. Once from the hit, which I was sure wasn't good for either mine or Link's previous cracked ribs, and twice on the landing, a good few yards away. My whole torso seemed numb for a fraction of a second before pain kicked in.

'_Gods, it hurts to __**breathe**_.' I thought, even as I gasped for air. Link didn't look much better off beside me, but he was making a better show of hiding it.

"Surprised?" King Bulblin sneered. I struggled to take in enough air to form a sentence, but managed a sarcastic remark a few seconds after.

"Hm... no, can't say I am. Also, 'surprised' is a super overused word, you should think of another one." My voice was little more than a wheeze, but I knew he'd heard what I said. I had absolutely no idea what I thought I was doing. Well, aside from pissing him off and being a smart-aleck. And if my goal had been to piss him off, it certainly worked. With another much angrier growl, King Bulblin swung the axe downward. If I hadn't rolled to my left, he'd have cut me right in two.

"Oh, now that," I paused as I shifted onto one knee, still breathing heavily. "That was a cheap shot." I laughed humorlessly, more a huff of air than a laugh really. "Hitting your opponents while they're down, can't expect much in the way of honour from the king of trolls I guess."

Goading him wasn't the best idea, but if I could just distract him long enough for Link to recover and get at him, it would definitely be worth it.

Anger lit up the bulblin's dark eyes, and he ripped the axe from the ground and swung it at me again with a full-out roar. I ducked and rolled just in time, and now had him exactly where I wanted him; between me and Link. He couldn't focus on both of us, probably thought Link was still recovering from the blow, when actually he was picking his sword up.

"Wretched little wench!" King Bulblin roared. Just as he'd gone to take another swing, Link struck. I couldn't see precisely what was happening, both because it was dark and because I was in front of him, not behind. From what I gathered, it wasn't pleasant.

I took this distraction as an opportunity, launching my own strike, which ended in a nasty slash across the monster's thick hide.

Taking one last swing, King Bulblin spun, knocking us both down long enough to get to the far wall. Both Link and I managed -barely- to raise our shields in time for them to take the brunt of the attack, but we were still sent flying back.

With one last sound like a wounded animal, he turned to leave. I was briefly confused, until a section of the wall raised like a portcullis, dropping behind the King Bulblin after he hobbled out. I heard a sound like flint on steel, moments before the door that had just dropped closed caught fire.

Whatever was in this place, it was most definitely flammable, because the flames on the door spread like gasoline had been splashed on everything. I was briefly taken aback - _we were in a room made of __**stone**__, after all_ - but as the flames I caught on to the fact that the roof was very much made of wood, and the tapestries previously hidden in the dark were very much flammable.

"Why does everybody had to keep trying to set us on fire?" I demanded of thin air, glaring at the ceiling.

"That's a question for another time, we need to get out of here!" Link exclaimed, kicking and shoving at the locked gate from which we'd come. The two bulblins that had been outside were nowhere to be found. Otherwise, I figured they would have stopped Link.

"You just went right past our ticket out of here!" I called to him, going to the now-recovered bulbo that had been knocked out of the way earlier. "It's fine, and like you said before, they can charge through those gates like nothing."

Link gave me a boost up onto the saddle, before climbing on in front of me. We were barely able to guide the disoriented animal, and I was surprised it didn't seem to be in any sort of panic for self-preservation, considering it was in a burning building. That wasn't the problem, but the fact that it _wasn't charging_ was a very big one.

"We don't have time for this, move!" I shouted as a part of the roof crumbled somewhere behind us.

The boar reared up, just like that, and charged for the gate.

'_Are you kidding me?' _I thought absently, before raising Nayru's Love over Link and I to protect us from the flying pieces of gate and fence as the boar just continued right on charging through one, two, three, four, five...six fences. It calmed down on the other side, and I practically let myself fall off the second it stopped.

"I'll never complain again when we have to ride somewhere on Epona ever again." I vowed, and Link weakly chuckled.

"I know what you mean." he responded, sliding off the uncomfortable saddle, turning to face me completely and... stopping. He was looking past me, and up. I turned around as well, and realized that at long last, after two days in the desert, the tiny thing in the distance had grown into a massive... thing. It architecturally resembled a Colosseum, with its round structure and sky-scraping pillars, all with the crest of Hyrule at the very top on one side, the mark that I assumed was of the sages on the other.

In short, it was quite the sight.

"We had some stuff like this back on Earth. There's an ancient Colosseum in Rome, it kinda reminds me of it. It was a gladiatorial ring though, not a prison. Well...no, let's not get into that."

Shaking my head, I started forward alongside Link, past the many pillars that seemed to serve as little more than decoration and up the stairs. Link stopped me at the entrance, having Midna shift him into the wolf before going to our right, where it appeared there was an Imp Poe.

_Right_, I forgot he'd run into Jovani, the gold-greedy man in Castle Town who'd turned himself into gold. We needed to collect poe souls to free him, a total of 80 if I was correct.

The entranceway to the prison itself was really quite fancy for a prison. Then again, it had been built long before our time, maybe that was just the way of things back then.I paused just short of the entryway when Link and I made to go inside. I shivered; the whole place, while quite an architectural marvel, was practically radiating with malevolence and evil. It was unsettling, to say the least, for my magical half.

"Rose?" Link's tone was questioning, and I read into what he didn't say; _Are you okay?_ As much as I was tired of hearing the question, it was touching that he worried.

"...Yeah. Just... worried about what we'll find inside. Foreknowledge or no, bad stuff can still happen." I admitted my worries. Worries that had only been made stronger because of my nightmares the previous night. They were both very real possibilities, the only difference was magic.

That, _and_ the corridor past the entryway was pitch black, and I had worries that I'd either trip and fall down the stairs, or that-

_Wait_.

Din's fire. Of course.

I formed a little ball of fire in my hand, the light it gave off was little more than candlelight, but it provided enough that we could see ahead of us. Still though, I was hesitant to go in.

"Hey," I felt a hand under my chin, tipping my head to look Link in the eyes. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get through this, get to the mirror, and we will be okay." The look in his eyes left no room for argument, so I only nodded.

Sending my little fireball ahead of us a few feet to light the stairway, we took the first steps in together, and began to descend the staircase into the Arbiters' Grounds, where many known -and probably more unknown- horrors waited for us, not even including Death Sword and the Stallord.

* * *

_A/N: Two chapters in one day! Granted, this one's about two thousand words shorter than the last, but still, it seemed like a good place to leave off. Leave a review down below and let me know what you thought!_


	4. Sand, Skeletons and Ghosts, Oh My

_A/N: Another sick day, lovely. Enough about me, let's get to the review replies and this chapter!_

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: Haha, even my mother's pointing out typos to me when I update. I hope I'm getting better at writing action sequences, that wasn't my strong suit with the first part. _

_RandomButLoved: I won't be giving any spoilers, dearie, except... the title of the next chapter is "Don't let me Fall"._

_RandomButLoved (2): Fight-ey is definitely a word. And- Thank you for that! I love little bits of encouragement like that! (Especially waking up to them, which I did). _

_Godofmadness43: I know, I've been looking forward to this. It's a lot easier to write when I have a general idea of what I'm doing. _

_Zetra Shink: Thanks so much hon! It's always nice to hear. And if you'd believe it, I didn't actually plan for them __**all**_ _to be originally from Hyrule, but that was how the cookie crumbled and I like it. :)_

_PS. Yes, I tried to be funny with the chapter title. Not sure if it worked, but..._

_PPS. Quick thing about Poes, in my headcanons; unlike Selphie Kinneas 175's What Makes A Hero, where the poes bring up past guilts and regrets, mine bring up... fears. Not in such a simple way, as like Rose's fear of heights though. Just - you'll see what I mean. _

_Poes talk like this_

'_Wolf-Speak is like this'_

"_Midna talks like this"_

* * *

Chapter 4: Sand, Skeletons and Ghosts, Oh My

As we proceeded further down the stairs, my little light was no longer needed. Torches were coming into sight on either side of us, spaced about one meter apart. Further ahead, the hallway came to an end; the first room of the Arbiter's Grounds.

The first thing I saw was the spiralling pit of death by sinking sand just in front of the safety of the stone floor we were on. The next thing was the _skulls_. _Everywhere_. Not even full bodies, just really screwed-up looking skulls.

To our direct right-diagonal, across quite an expanse of sinking sand, was a platform, looking to have been broken off at two points, one connecting it to where we stood, the other to the second platform just to the left of it.

"I don't even want to think about taking a chance with that..." I muttered to myself. I remembered from the game how frustrating and risky it was to cross that. More than a few times I'd had to start from the beginning of the room because I'd gotten stuck and sunken in.

The thought of that happening in real life was more than terrifying.

"You won't have to. Look." Link's hand appeared in my peripheral, pointing towards something _up_. Following it, I saw something that really, I should have seen by now, after the number of times I'd played the game; a grate on the wall for the clawshot. _Seriously?_ This time it wasn't even my memory that was the problem this time, it was that I'd literally _never_ seen that before, in the seven years that I'd been playing Twilight Princess.

"... There's a very justifiable reason for why that should irritate the hell out of me, but it would take too long to explain, so I'll just stick with being relieved that we don't have to cross _that_ on foot." I decided, keeping my voice even as I eyed the sinking sand again, while Link dug his clawshot from his bag. My statement provoked a huff of a laugh from him, before he took aim at the red grate on the wall. The telltale clicking of the device followed a moment later as the claws opened, ready to fire. He waited until I was holding onto him tightly before pulling the trigger on the clawshot. It shot out with an echoing, metallic _bang_ before latching onto the grate and yanking us forward.

The impact with the wall was less than pleasant, and the stagnant air in the ancient prison was hardly refreshing, but it was worth getting past the quicksand without the risk of being attacked by a giant burrowing worm or drowning in sand. Granted, it didn't mean that the moldorms were smart enough to realize that they couldn't quite get to us.

When we dropped down, I did my best to avoid looking at the skulls. Despite my morbid curiosity, I didn't think it would be a good idea to get any closer a look. For all I knew, one could decide to come to life and start hopping around and attacking us. It wasn't like it _hadn't_ happened in the game before, and I didn't fancy getting bitten by a skull.

There were two platforms in front of us, and two platforms beside us, before there was a safe-zone for the door. It looked a bit like a zig-zag, the way the platforms were laid out. At least these ones were in jumping distance, I quickly noticed.

Backing up to the wall, I got a running start to jump to the second platform, not bothering to stop before jumping to the second. The third I knew was a sinking spot, so I didn't want to get onto that one without Link.

That just meant I'd have to duck a little more to avoid getting munched on by a moldorm while I waited.

Now we were facing the wall we'd just come from, it was just a matter of two more platforms before we were into the next room. Well... and a pulley handle behind a crude fence, to open the gate that blocked the door, but we could handle that.

The platform rattled and shook the second we jumped to it, and involuntary panic made me seize up. _Nope_. This was not okay under any definition of the word. Without really thinking about it, I warped* us right to the door, skipping the final platform entirely.

"I don't like those sinking platforms. _Not_ cool at all..." I muttered to myself. "Okay, just the pulley handle to open the door, then we've got solid ground..." I reassured myself.

Warping from one side of a fence of spears to the other was no trouble, nor was using the clawshot to grab the handle of the chain we had to pull, where it sat innocently in the sand, to open the door. It was the _skeletons_ that I had trouble with.

I'd forgotten that the Stalkins came up from the ground here, didn't even notice one coming up behind Link and I until the tip of its spear was jabbing into my back. It didn't get very far, it was a dull point and I had chainmail, but it still hurt.

I allowed myself - okay, it slipped out before I could stop it - a startled scream, swinging my sword back on first instinct. My wild swing knocked the skeleton's head clean off, and the body crumbled into nothing with a strange squeak.

"Right... forgot about the skeletons..." I said, trying to be nonchalant but betrayed by a tremor in my voice. The place where the stalkin's spear tip had _barely_ broken the skin stung, and was beginning to throb, but it was easy to put out of my mind. Just another ache and pain, it wasn't like we hadn't accumulated any of those during our desert trek. And compared with being hit with a giant battleaxe clean in the torso, a little pinprick was hardly anything.

Link didn't see it quite the same way, I felt him poking and prodding around, trying to find where the spear had gotten me - it wasn't nearly as easy as you'd imagine, blood isn't very easy to find on a dark red tunic. I flinched away when he reached the spot, pushing his hands back as I turned to face him.

"It's fine. Door's open, let's go." I said sharply, warming us back to the other side of the spear-fence without another word.

The next room started with a long corridor that split off into a 'T'. To our left, a short room - more of a closet really - with a huge tub of oil, where I filled up an empty bottle. I knew we'd need it for our lanterns pretty quickly. In the room to the right, a longer hallway with a large chest at the end waited. There was another sink-sand pit, with a sinking platform as the only way to cross.

It would have made matters a lot easier to warp across, I knew, but I was already drained from the day's trek, and the bulblin camp, and magic would only make the impending passing-out-from-exhaustion come sooner rather than when I was ready for it.

It wasn't as bad as before, jumping to and from the tippy platform. Not that it was particularly fun, but it wasn't so bad.

If course, the second I thought that thought, it got worse; having grabbed the key, the two of us were turning to go back when we saw _bugs_ coming up from the stand. Scarabs, to be particular, and _lots_ of them.

_**Big nope.**_

I remembered those things - I'd also seen the Mummy Movies, so _there _- and I was _not_ about to have a bunch of bugs climbing around on me and possibly trying to eat my brain.

I voiced as much before forming a very large fireball - thank you again, Din's fire - and simply hurling it at the ground where the scarabs were emerging from.

"Yeah, _no_. _No_ thank you, Scarabs, you can eat someone else's brain." I said, glaring at the charred remains of the evil bugs that now sat smoking on the ground.

Link was silent, and a quick glance showed he looked a bit startled. Midna's laugh was what broke the silence.

"_I take it you don't like those_." she teased. I gave her a 'you think?' look, before nodding.

"What gave it away? The part where I said I wouldn't let them eat my brain, or the part where I through a huge fireball at them?" I asked sarcastically, hopping across the platform again. I heard Link laugh, before he was following behind me. I stopped at the door to the other room, thinking for a second, before frowning.

"I don't remember what's supposed to be on the other side of this door." I murmured, confused. Why was my memory failing, and only now? Even in the bloody water temple, the most confusing out of all of them, I remembered! Shaking my head, I realized I'd just have to do it like Link did; not necessarily blindly, but close to it. Unlocking the door and pushing it up with Link's help, I didn't remember until after we were in the room what exactly it was. _More Stalkin_. Awesome.

They were buried in the quicksand everywhere in the room, and I remembered having to light two torches beside the door to get it to unlock. And you had to kill all of the Stalkin.

"The only advice I can give here is don't get stabbed like I did, make sure they're in front of you. Oh, and watch out for quicksand." I warned Link quickly as we stepped into the room. Several Stalkin climbed up from the send when we came closer, and I had the _brilliant_ idea to run around and bring _all_ of them out, and then get chased into a corner. If there was any upside, it was that it made them easier to take out when they were all coming from one direction. The major downside? There were a _lot_ of Stalkin spears to avoid. And, unfortunately, I didn't manage to avoid all of them.

"Not the smartest idea I've ever had." I decided, taking a count of the new nicks and scratches. Not many, but they were there. "At least we got rid of the buggers." I added on a more positive note, lighting the torch on my side of the door. Link was on the other side, having fought his own pack of Stalkin on his side of the room, and he lit the torch on that side.

The grating in front of the door that blocked our way slid up with a metallic screech that really ground on the eardrums.

The next room was... grand, but in an eerie way. The lighting was much different from torchlight, having no clear source save for four _blue_ torches in the front-centre of the room, two on either side of a massive staircase that I knew led to the next part of the dungeon.

Statues decorated the room on either side of a wide path that led to the stairs, all broken and eroded by the passage of time, as well as who knows what else. The stairs led to a dark and gaping doorway with a portcullis of sorts peeking out from the ceiling, ready to be dropped at any second. The upper level showed a large chandelier that seemed dual-purposed to serve as a walkway, and two doors. One on the left, one on the right. I knew those would come later.

Before I could take a better look at anything, I heard a strange noise. Eerie, metallic... what _was_ it?

I got my answer in the form of four ghostly swaying lanterns emerging from the large doorway in front of us. They spread out, one lantern to each flame, before snatching them up into the lanterns. They seemed to dance around for a moment, as though dancing in victory, before flying away from the pedestals where the flames had floated. The moment they did, the portcullis door dropped, shaking the ground _and_ us. Interesting security system, I briefly marveled, before the lanterns floated towards us.

They circled eerily, prompting Link and I to draw our swords, before three flew away. That left us with one. Midna turned Link and I into wolves, and I got the urge to run away and hide the second I saw what we were up against.

It wasn't like we hadn't fought Poes before, but... euch. This one had ghostly white robes, and a black hood secured by what looked like a skull. It's face looked like death.

When it saw that we saw it, it howled like a banshee, making me instinctively shy away.

Then it _spoke_. The voice sounded like it was inside my head, and it was terrifying.

_Pitiful, pathetic little girl._

I was confused; what was it _doing_? Was Link hearing this? I looked over to him, saw him narrowing his eyes at the ghostly being.

_Do you think you're _worthy _of the mark of the goddesses? _

_... _

_You are __**nothing**__._

I startled, flinching back; the voice was different. I knew it wasn't him, but _it was him_. The Poe was using Link's form to talk. A growl built in my throat, _how dare it think it could use Link against me?_ And why wasn't _he_ saying anything?!

_A useless little tagalong! You can't even use a sword! What would you be without __**magic**_ _to help you? _

_Worthless. You would have been better off should have died!_

I knew it wasn't him, he was _right beside me_, but the words hurt all the same.

'_Shut up!'_ I shouted, leaping for the creature imitating Link. In the haze of anger, I'd forgotten it was merely a spirit, one that I could only attack when _it_ was rearing up to attack. As such, I was batted out of the way like I was nothing more than a nuisance. I wasn't hurt physically, told Link as much when I heard him asking if I was okay.

'_I've got this one,'_ Real Link called to me once he'd confirmed I was alright.

"Y-Yeah, sure thing..." I murmured after Midna turned me human again. It was strange seeing one half of the fight, but at least I couldn't hear the Poe -using Link's voice- in my head anymore. The words were burning themselves in my mind though, repeating over and over again in my head, tapering down into the part that hurt most; _you would have been better off dead_. _You should have died!_

I held my hands on either sides of my head, covering my ears as though that would quiet it.

_Pathetic little girl - you should have died - pathetic girl - worthless - pathetic - __**you should have died - PATHETIC -**_

And then it stopped, just as the voice had seemed to scream the words. Just like that, it was silent. Stiffly detaching my hands from either side of my head, I shakily stood up. Midna shifted Link back into a human, and they both looked stricken. I didn't see Midna for all that long actually, she returned to Link's shadow without a word.

"D-Did you hear that?" I asked shakily, my voice barely a whisper. "That... wasn't supposed to happen! It didn't happen in the story, they're not supposed to- to _talk!_" The pitch of my voice hitched as my panic increased, bouncing around the walls of the room loudly.

"_Please_ tell me you heard it too." I nearly begged. Link managed a small nod. "I-It was- it was talking to me, it made itself look like- like you and it-"

"What?" Link looked confused, then. I frowned.

"It was... using your voice, it told me these... terrible things, it didn't stop until you... well, killed it." I answered, confused and also more than a little bit frightened. Link hadn't heard it say those things, but he'd said he heard it. "Maybe... maybe we heard different things." I decided.

"...Yeah, probably." Link's voice was strained, he looked much the same as I imagined I looked right then.

"Do... do you want to stop for the night? It's going to take... quite some time to get those things, and we've been going all day. I could take first watch, if you wanted." I suggested softly. Sleeping after what had just happened was _not_ a good idea for me. Then again, it probably wasn't a very good idea for _him_ either. Link shook his head.

"Not... not yet." Link said, shaking his head. "You're welcome to stay, but..." he trailed off, message clear.

"No. If you're going after those things, I'm going with you." I insisted, some of my voice returning. It was still quieter than I would have liked on any other day, but that was far from important right now.

Collecting the scent of the poes wasn't a fun thing, as much as I knew we needed it; they smelled like ash, death and decay. And I'd thought the slimy toad in the water temple smelled bad; dead poes were easily ten times worse, if not more.

We followed the scent to a patch of sand that, when dug into, revealed another pulley hand. And when pulled, the handle triggered a mechanism that revealed a set of stairs in the floor, leading to a door directly beneath the one in front of us.

_Riiight_, I remembered how that room worked. It _spun_, however that was possible, like a corkscrew. Certain doors were inaccessible from the top, but accessible from the bottom room with help from the clawshot. It was weird, and probably physically impossible.

_And_ there was a flying skull inside. And rats bigger than my head.

I wanted out of this room as quickly as possible, but as we pushed the lever in the middle of the room - the one that would make it spin, however that worked - I forgot to account for something that would be waiting for us; right in front of the key we would need to get to the poe, was a re-dead. A true and proper zombie.

They just couldn't make it easy, could they?

And why, for the love of _God_, did every single dead thing in this dungeon feel the need to scream like a banshee? The re-dead's was almost as bad as the _poe_!

After dodging a dead guy's cleaver for a total of five minutes - or something like that - I gave up on trying to avoid using magic; energy drain or not, enough was enough. Using Farore's Wind to appear _behind_ the zombie, I slashed at the pile of bones and rags until it fell apart. There was something satisfying about the re-dead's bones clattering to the ground and echoing around us.

The key now sat innocently on the ground, nothing between us and it.

The turning of the room now revealed a hole in the ceiling, and what else could be visible from said hole but another grating to use the clawshot on?

At our angle, we barely avoiding scraping the edge of the hole as the clawshot pulled us up, but hey, now we were in the room we needed to be in, and one step closer to getting rid of the second poe.

The room was nearly identical to the one beneath it, save for the fact that there were no zombies or flying skulls, just more rats. And the skulls that _stayed_ dead.

Link didn't even bother dealing with the rats, headed to the door directly on the other side of the hole in the floor. We nearly had it now, it was just a matter of killing it before it could get into Link's head like the first one had with me. I shuddered; that was _not_ an experience I wanted to relive, but we didn't have much of a choice in going after the things, did we?

"You said it was using my voice." Link stated, pausing at the now-unlocked door. I nodded meekly. He considered that for a moment. "Whatever this thing says... remember; it's not _me_."

Nodding again, I took a deep breath, and the two of us pushed the door up and open.

It started again the second we entered the room.

_Weakling._

_Deadweight._

_Useless._

_Nothing._

Try as I did to push the voice out, or at least find where it was coming from, it was in my _mind_, there was no voice to find. There were lanterns hung everywhere on the walls, it could be any one of them. I could go wolf to find it, but then the voice would get clearer.

"Doesn't matter.." I muttered to myself, nodding to Midna before she shifted the two of us. I was right, the voice was louder when I used my animal senses, but I forced myself to detach; the words were just a jumble of letters with no meaning, they meant nothing, they _weren't_ going to affect me.

The poe didn't take Link's form like the first, simply going to attack. However, I knew it was trying to use Link's voice, but it didn't affect me as much this time around; I wasn't quite _immune_, but I was doing my best to ignore it.

_You think I'd trust you?_

_You _lied _to me, didn't even try to stop the attack on the village- _either _of the villages. You knew both were going to happen, and you did _nothing_! Why would I trust you to tell me the truth after that? How could _you _believe that I'd trust you, let alone __**love**_ _you?_

Okay, _that_ was unnecessary. And painful.

Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it!

'_Need a new trick. Your old one isn't working.'_ I thought - a lie - before Link and I leaped to attack.

It barely registered when the creature's soul became visible; the only way to 'kill' a poe was to rip its soul out, and it only became vulnerable when the poe was injured. The information struck only enough for me to attack that evil little purple ball.

I felt sick the second I was human again, paying little attention to the stolen flame shattering the lantern it had been housed in before going through the wall and back to it's place. I was more focused on choking out whatever piece of that _thing_ I could taste in my mouth.

"I hate being a wolf for the simple fact that my main weapons are my teeth and claws..." I muttered when I was able to catch my breath, wiping away the last traces of illness away and sliding back against the wall. I was just so _tired_ now, and I hated this whole place, I just wanted out.

Link finally admitted to exhaustion when we were out of the room with the dead poe, back in the spinning room.

"We could sleep in here," I heard myself saying before my brain fully agreed. "There's nothing in here."

To my surprise, Link actually agreed. I went through the extra effort of smashing the skulls that were on the ground, just as an extra security measure, and getting rid of the rats. There was no need for _those_ to be in here while we slept. Then it was just us, in the yellow-orange light from the torches. I didn't want to sleep, for fear of nightmares after what we'd just fought, but it was inevitable. It was probably nearing a good twenty-four hours since I'd slept, seeing as my _last_ nightmare had shortened my sleep time, and we'd been quick to get going before the sun had fully risen.

Not to mention everything they'd already done that day. If not for the poes' words turning and twisting in my mind, I would have gladly welcomed the prospect of sleep. But now I was fighting drooping eyes to my last figurative breath.

"...Link?" I whispered. A quiet, sleepy hum was the response. He heard me. I took a moment to form my question, bouncing between one worry and the other. I decided on the first, the second one was too hard to figure out.

"If I didn't have my magic, would you still have let me come here with you?" Definitely the easier of the two questions. The other one involved Love, I wasn't ready to get into that can of worms yet. I heard Link shifting, forced my eyes open again when I realized I'd closed them. He was closer now, and despite tiredness he was very much awake and coherent. He had a small frown on his face as well.

"Why would you ask that?" he asked. There was no demand in his voice, no pressuring me, just worry and curiosity. I sighed, not sure how to put my words together in a way that made sense.

"The poe... well, both of them actually... They brought up my worries about my importance in this whole... quest. Using your voice, it picked it all apart.. Brought up trust, how you could trust me after... well, Kakariko and Ordon." It was surprisingly easy to confess to said worry. "Told me I was useless deadweight, that I'm nothing. That I'm useless without magic... that I should have died." those last five words lit something in Link's eyes. Beneath a flash of anger was pain, beneath that something else I couldn't identify.

I tucked away a brief reminder to try and get better at reading emotions in people in the back of my mind, as Link sat up completely. Taking my hands, he sat me up with him.

"I want you to listen to me, Rose. That monster was exactly that: a _monster_, and it couldn't be more wrong; We're in this together, magic or no, and I would not be alive right now if you weren't. You _are_ important, to me _and_ this 'quest'. You've saved my life, and I trust you with that. As for the villages... I know you had your reasons for not warning anybody."

Link's reminder that I had saved his life was a little unexpected, but his words about the village attacks were downright shocking. He.. understood? He wasn't going to ask about those reasons?

"But I'm-"

"No less important than me or Midna." Link cut me off. "The stories on Earth, about Hyrule, they're not exact, you said it yourself. For all they know, I would have drowned in the lakebed temple without you there. Or maybe burned alive in the Goron mines."

Link stopped there for a moment, took a breath, and I said nothing.

"My point is... the ghost was wrong. You _are_ important, more than important. I wouldn't have made it through all of this without you."

Mentally, I tacked on an 'and Midna' to that, if just to distract myself. This was _not _a conversation I'd been expecting when I asked my question, and clearly not one I was ready for in this state, if my blurry eyes were any indication. I gave a watery laugh, wiping my eyes.

"Thank you," was all I managed to say, laying back down with him a second later. I was definitely ready to sleep now. However, my twice-damned curiosity demanded that I ask one more question; "The poes... what did they say to you?" I sleepily wondered. I got no response. "If you don't wanna talk about it, that's okay. 'M sure they're wrong anyways." I added as my eyes drifted closed. Link still said nothing, but there was a distinct sense of relief in the air.

I probably wouldn't have been able to stay awake for his answer anyways.

Things were better now. We'd taken out two of the poes, and I was fairly certain that the other ones wouldn't be able to mess with my anymore; I'd just have to keep in mind what Link just told me. It wouldn't be easy, I knew.

But then, when had anything in this mess of an adventure been easy?

* * *

_A/N: There we have it! Got a little emotional at the end, wasn't expecting that. Still good though, right? Hopefully there'll be more of that in the next chapter. We'll just have to see, won't we? Bye!_


	5. Let You Fall? Not A Chance

_A/N: I'm really liking the progress I'm making here. From the chapter name, you can probably tell there's gonna be a bit of angsty-fluff-ness in this chapter. I hope you like it! Let's get these review replies out of the way;_

_Zetra Shink: Trust me hon, I know how much grade 7 sucks. I can't say grade 10's much better, except that you get to pick your classes. Thank you for your kind words, and hang in there!_

_SimplySupreme: I almost wrote Rose doing that a number of times, but I gave up on that and kept her turmoil mostly internal. It got out of my hands a little when Link started reassuring her, but it's for the better I think._

_Godofmadness43: understatement, I think, but not wrong. That was all actually really depressing to write. _

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: I may very well reveal what the poes said to Link, but not quite yet. And yes, writing closeness is good. And if you like mystery, just wait til we get further on in the series. It'll be great :D As for updates, ask and ye shall receive! _

_RandomButLoved: Noooohhh, if they had that power in the game it would be terrifying! Yes, this chapter will be 'ace'. And fluffy stuff makes me happy, so... yeah._

_Yourmother(guest): *long sigh* I acknowledged Selphie in my author's note at the beginning of the last chapter, and it's not quite the same as hers, so it can't quite be referred to as theft, and I'll tell you how that is: her poes tormented Link constantly, bringing up _**guilt**_, and _**regret**_, and use them to make false images. _**My **_poes bring up insecurities, fears, use the people in the tormentee's heart to make it hurt more. _**But**_, when someone can both consciously and subconsciously acknowledge that what the poes are doing isn't real, they slowly stop hearing them, hence why in _**this **_chapter, Rose can't hear the third poe at all. Link told her from his own mouth exactly what she needed to hear so the poes couldn't get into her head anymore. Yes, the original inspiration is there, but only in the bare minimum. I reworked it into something else, something _**similar**_, but not the same. It's like a myth, there's many different ways it can play out that are very similar, but not the same. If you'd like to further discuss this, send me a private message._

_Helpfull person (Guest): Haha, perhaps I will. Thank you for the compliment, I hope you like this chapter :)_

* * *

Chapter 5: Let You Fall? Not A Chance

Getting rid of a poe is the easy-ish part. Not listening to what they say is harder. In the cases of the third and fourth poes, actually _getting to the poe_ is the worst part.

In the first room, beneath the quicksand, was a maze of spikes. The tricky part was that the spikes didn't pop up until you got close to them, and it was always startling when they did. As if the spikes weren't enough on their own, there were even more _flying skulls_. With wings and everything, flapping around like bats! Then there was a giant _box_ that we had to move so we could solve another puzzle involving the chandelier thingy. The box was ridiculous, I didn't see the purpose of it at all.

"Link... do you think that the... well, for lack of a better word, 'bad guys' are the ones who mess around with all these places? Put the puzzles in and all that? I understand some of the death traps here, it being a prison and all, but this just... _isn't conventional_. So, wouldn't it make sense for the bad guys to mess around with everything and make it harder for someone trying to stop them - like us - to get through it, or die trying?"

It was something I hadn't thought of before, but it made sense. The dangers of the Goron Mines for example, that just wasn't something you _saw_, even with Gorons.

Link agreed that the theory made sense, but didn't contribute much.

I'm not even going to get into the chandelier trap. It involved a pulley handle and running like all hell was after you and hoping you didn't get ruched when the chandelier came back down.

The fact that Link was strong enough to even do it was impressive though. The pulley handle lifted the _whole chandelier_.

There was another huge set of stairs on the other side of the chandelier death trap. Oh, and - you guessed it, more flying skulls. The one at the top was _on fire_.

The room at the top was another spinning room, though it wasn't obvious at first. Instead of a blatantly obvious handle to push for the room to spin, it was the plaque in front of a statue in the middle of the room. When we figured out that it _did_ spin, we revealed two doorways, one of which was locked. The other was simply boarded up. The planks blocking the path were old and rotten, however, and easy to smash through. The second we did, I regretted it; another re-dead was just waking up.

_Damn it... _I really hated those things.

Link took it down in what seemed like the blink of an eye, taking it off guard before it was fully 'awake' with a jump attack - which broke off its arm - followed by a helm-splitter. _A helm-splitter_.

Again, it was satisfying when the re-dead collapsed into a pile of bones on the ground, but this time I was more awed by the helm-splitter Link had just -pretty much perfectly- executed.

"You... _jumped over its head_... that was _insane_!" I exclaimed, not even taking notice that Link had grabbed the key the re-dead had been guarding. "And I thought it was cool when you did a backflip but that..." I trailed off, shaking my head.

It seemed my inner fangirl still lived. She'd just somehow managed to shut up more in the last three months.

Link led me from the room, past the statue and to the locked door. If I was right, this led to another quicksand room. Looking on the map, I saw it was kinda shaped like a key. The thought made me laugh, I can't say I know why. It just seemed funny.

When we entered, I stopped. Now I remembered why I didn't like this room; not only was it a quicksand room, but it was also a room full of stalkin and re-dead _knights_.

The little Stalkin buggers showed up first, coming in droves as Link and I pushed forward. I managed to kill a few with magic, but there were too many for that to be effective. At long last, halfway around the 'loop' of the key-shaped room, there was a respite, and I saw why; _that's_ where the re-deads came in.

We didn't have any bomb arrows at the ready, but regular bombs worked just as well if you threw or rolled them far enough.

There was just one more before we were home free and out of the key-shaped room, and we'd gotten through with minimal sand in our clothes and boots.

Of course, as I mentally acknowledged the fact that nothing had gone wrong, something _had_ to go wrong. Going up against the last re-dead was not nearly as easy as I'd hoped.

As it appeared, Nayru's Love did _not_ protect from re-dead banshee screams. If anything, the crystal barrier amplified the sound. It was deafening, painful, stunning, and _that_ was just the start.

I saw the zombie knight pulling its cleaver back, saw its focus was on an also-stunned Link. He didn't look like he'd recover in time to get out of the way. Not that I was much better, but I had to do _something_.

Ignoring my lack of equilibrium I ran the few short steps to Link, grabbed his arm and pulled him back to where I'd been standing, just in time for the re-dead to swing the cleaver down.

Not fast enough to completely avoid it. The first tell was Link trying to subdue a pained noise -and not doing very well. The second was fresh blood on the zombie cleaver. I wasn't about to wait for it to attack again so, affectiveness be damned, I sent it flying back with a fireball. I got Link to the ground, turned back around and _threw_ my sword at the re-dead. Shockingly the sword hit it's mark, and the room _finally_ went quiet when the crunching and clattering of bones stopped.

I let this process for about half a second before I was running back to Link; the cleaver had clipped his shoulder, I quickly saw. My balance was still off, my ears still ringing, but I made it back to that corner of the room mostly upright.

"Gods..." I muttered, pushing apart the torn pieces of tunic and chainmail to get a better look at what happened. "This looks pretty bad, Link." I said gravely, though my voice sounded strange to me; muffled. Maybe it was just the bleeding, but it looked _really_ bad. "I don't know if I can heal this, and if I can't... " There could be permanent damage. Or he could bleed out, which was a hell of a lot worse.

"It's okay." and somehow Link managed to _again _be the one comforting me.

"...Well, don't know if you don't try..." I persuaded myself.

'_I need to heal Link_,' I thought, remembering that was what had triggered the strange presence last time Link had been gravely injured, thinking that I needed to save Link. I'd healed him then, right? This had to work.

_There_ it was. Only barely, but it was still there. I put my hand to Link's wound, mindful of the surprised grunt that came from Link.

"Sorry..." I said apologetically. The magic that had started coursing the second I'd thought about healing Link was dwindling, but I could _feel_ it moving into my hand, and from my hand to Link. Unlike last time, it was still there when the magic drained, but it looked weeks old instead of seconds. "Looks like that's the best I can do..." I sighed, a disappointed frown coming to my face as I rested against the cool wall. My hand slipped from Link's shoulder, my eyes closed. It wasn't as much a drain as it had been the first time, my best guess being because I had used _less_ magic this time around.

I had a bad feeling, though; not about healing Link, but using that magic. Forcing my eyes open again, I focused on making a crystal barrier. One appeared, but flickered out of existence after a few seconds.

_That's_ what it was. My magic, it was almost completely drained. Something the Hero's Shade had told me during one of our lessons echoed back into my head.

'_Be heedful, Rosalie, of how you use your magic. Powerful actions require powerful magic. If you drain your magical core entirely, you will not be able to access your magic until it has regenerated.'_

Crap. That's what I'd just done, wasn't it? My magic was running on fumes, so to speak.

"What's wrong?"

Link's voice took my from my thoughts, and I gave a defeated huff.

"I drained my magic. I won't be able to access any of it for a while. I'm not sure how long." I answered quietly. Despite our conversation the previous night, I couldn't help but think that I _wasn't_ very helpful without my magic.

I saw Link frowning.

"Because... you healed me?" I nodded.

"Yeah. Sorry I couldn't heal you completely, I imagine it still hurts like hell right now, but at least you won't bleed out, or suffer anything permanent. Well, except for a scar." I'd made sure of that, mending anything that _could _have caused permanent damage. Now it all just needed to completely heal, which I couldn't do.

"...Why?"

I sighed, exasperated.

"Well, I wasn't about to let you die on me. I can't do this on my own, I certainly can't defeat Zant on my own, let alone whoever gave him his power." Of course _I _knew who it was, but it was the sages who would tell us about Ganon, I'd leave that to them. "Now, you're going to stay here, I'm going to get rid of the poe that, if I'm right, is just over there." I pointed to the trick wall beside me.

I didn't give him any time to argue, digging up _another _pulley handle that revealed the trick wall. This poe wasn't talking, that was a shock. Not that I was particularly disappointed. Ripping out its soul would be a lot easier if I didn't have to worry about my fear getting in the way.

We got to the next room - circular, with the outer floor raised like a balcony over the rest - without a problem. I noticed that some sections of the elevated floor had crumbled away and eroded with time. In one 'corner' between the broken sections, we found a key. It was when the lights went dark that I realized something was wrong? What was it about this room that made me want to just _burn everything?_

Then something was crawling on me.

"Ew, ew, ew! What is that?" I squeaked, shaking my arms and trying to swat whatever was crawling on me off.

"Midna, wolf!" Link sounded as disturbed as I was, he was just less squeaky about it. Midna shifted us both into wolves, and I saw them. _Rats_. Ghost rats. _**Ew!**_

My mantra of 'ew' started up again even as we attacked the ghoul rats. I couldn't stop twitching every so often, even once they were all dead. Again. Midna wasn't much happier, going off about how she was going to have to burn everything, and diseases. It was actually pretty funny.

Once we were out of the room, I saw where it was that we'd ended up; we were back in the room with the blue flames, only one was missing now.

"Huh. Wasn't expecting that."

* * *

"Oh. This room."

Another puzzle, looked like. With Lanterns. One was in front of a whole row of lanterns. None of them were lit. Hazarding a guess, we lit the front torch first. Nothing happened, now there was a selection of five.

"I'm going to take a guess and suggest... that one." I pointed to the one on the far right. Turned out my guess was correct, probably saving us a fight with some undead thing or another, revealing a hidden doorway that led to the room the fourth poe was hiding in.

"Awesome, piece of cake."

Oh, how wrong I was. The final poe quadruplicated itself. Three false ones, and it. We couldn't tell for sure which was real, but... still, I wasn't hearing anything. It certainly _looked_ like it was talking, but I was seeing it. Not Link, or my brother, or anyone else it would have tried to use against me. It had no voice now, at least not with me.

That would make things _loads_ easier when time came to rip its soul out.

Then it was done, after agonizing for what felt like hours for just the one poe, not to mention the time yesterday and that morning; they were all dead.

The next room was one we'd passed through previously; another chandelier puzzle, tons of quicksand as always, but now all the enemies we'd killed had magically reappeared. Though, I didn't remember flying skulls being there before. I hadn't even noticed the one - it had been playing possum, the bugger - until we were preparing to clawshot back to ground level, and it shot towards us. Link's shot went wide, he lost balance.

Then he was falling towards the quicksand. A flashback to my nightmare from before came to me with the adrenaline rush. I caught Link's hand, but only barely. My sliced palm was screaming at the sudden pressure on the wound, and I grabbed Link's wrist with my other hand, relieving some of the pressure and increasing my grip.

"I've got you. I'm not gonna let you fall." I said, even as my weaker hand slipped, all of the weight on my good arm.

"Rose, I can make it over there. You can let go, it's okay." Link was trying to reassure me, but as much as I wanted to believe him I couldn't. I vehemently shook my head. To my shock, he laughed. "Stubborn as ever."

"This isn't something to laugh about!" I exclaimed, angry. "What if you're wrong, and you don't make it, and you die? Or you _do_ land, and break your leg? How am I supposed to explain that? Midna, help me here!" I remembered our shadowy friend was a little more solid than she used to be, and instantly enlisted her help as I tried - unsuccessfully - to pull Link up.

Midna did so without question, her hair-hand-appendage gripping Link's other, injured, arm and helping me to pull him up.

"You could have let go, I would have made it." Link tried again. I huffed.

"Well it doesn't matter now, and I wouldn't have let go even if my arm was falling off." I muttered. I could practically feel him raising an eyebrow as I grabbed the clawshot from his bag.

"Why not?"

Whatever tenuous self control I had there snapped.

"Because I love you, you _idiot_! And I didn't want to take the chance that you were wrong and have you drown in sand!" I exploded at him, voice rebounding heavily through the room. In the absence of that echo, once it faded, the silence was uncomfortably pronounced.

Midna broke it with a giggle, before returning to Link's shadow.

I couldn't figure out what was so funny for quite a few seconds, then it hit me. I could have _sworn_ I'd only thought the first part. I blushed bright red, hiding my face behind my hands as embarrassment kicked in.

"Hey," I felt Link nudging my arm, peeked out from behind my hands to see him _right there_, with a barely-there smile.

"... I love you too."

* * *

All the Stalkin in this whole dungeon couldn't bring me down. As miserable as the dungeon was, even more so without magic, I doubted anything could bring me down now.

_Link loved me!_

I felt like such a girly girl - a thing that Bethany, Carmen and I had all 'solemnly sworn' we would never become the day we watched Mean Girls for the first time - thinking about it. The fact that I was fighting the urge to squeal and grin the whole way back to the lantern room was not helping. The portcullis was open when we came back, the fourth blue flame exactly where it was supposed to be.

Entering the room we'd just now unlocked - as well as that whole other half of the temple, really - was pretty cool, because here came the fun and potentially-dangerous half of the dungeon. We'd be getting the spinner soon, I knew, and we'd need this room when we got it. I could actually see the chest that held the big key, in a little corridor to our right, but we were barred from it by a good several yards of quicksand to cross. See, with _magic_ we could have done it, but it was still regenerating.

No, the door we were headed to was on our left. The other side revealed a spiralling column of some kind. Looking down, it showed that there was a spinning platform. _Oh_.

"Awesome."

Getting down wasn't much trouble, there were little side-access hallways with clawshot grates on them, until it was safe enough to jump.

Pushing the spinner itself was hard, this one seemed more stubborn than the last two we'd come across, and it required both of us to do it. It took us a good half an hour to raise the platform to the hallway we needed to reach. There was a chest there with a key in it, but it was blocked by a spike trap. Again, magic...

"Rose, there's a hallway over there," Link pointed with his good arm, leading me over.

That was another thing that made me want to continue to squeal, he'd hardly let go of my hand since we'd gone into the second half of the dungeon. Now, we were successfully past the trap, and had the key. Finally, my memory that had been failing me the last two days reminded me that the door we needed to unlock was at the very bottom of the spiral. It was easier to push the platform down than up, so I wasn't complaining.

The next room was large, filled in with more spiky traps and quicksand that was nearly impossible to navigate. Wait, no, I forgot something; _even more ghoul rats_, and a re-dead at the end of the room. At that same end, on the other _side_, was a door on a chain not unlike the one in the goron mines. Link had me wait beside it while he ventured with Midna to open it and fight off ghoul rats.

Once he'd pulled it open enough, I stepped over to the other side, and once he'd pulled it open enough for _him_ to make it, he rejoined me.

There were more sinking platforms, and as loathe as I was to even look at them, I knew we needed to use them to get to the portion of the hallway that we couldn't reach from our current vantage point.

* * *

Finding Oocoo had been a surprise, I'd forgotten she was supposed to be here. The spike-roller of death in the next room was a bigger surprise, both literally and figuratively 'bigger'. Three stalfos waiting for us could have been the icing on the cake, if it hadn't been so easy to take them out.

No, the _real_ icing on the cake was _Death Sword_.

My continuously-failing memory hadn't reminded me of what was waiting for us until the screeching metal portcullis-door locked us in, like they did every other time we'd entered a mini boss chamber.

Link unknowingly broke the seal keeping the malicious spirit trapped inside the sword when he slashed at one of the ropes binding it. There were little paper tags on them, Hyrule's version of Ofuda, a talisman the Japanese created. It was meant to be a warding, protection. In this case, I imagined it was the only thing keeping that spirit trapped in the sword.

The other binds burned away the second the seal was broken. The sword ripped itself from the ground, spinning a few times, slammed back into the ground before stopping in a hover.

"Wolf senses," I called to Link. I figured he'd understand what I was referring to, and I was right.

"Alright. Hang back a bit." I also figured that was his way of acknowledging the fact that I didn't like having to turn into a wolf.

The first attack went off without a hitch, Death Sword roaring in pain as it slowly became visible. I snorted involuntarily at the sound; it sounded like a screaming goat, which I figured couldn't have been far off the mark when I saw its head.

Demon goat. Fun.

I remembered my part in the fight as Link shifted back into a human, taking aim and shooting off an arrow when Death Sword's back was turned to me. The creature cried out, sinking to the ground and giving Link the opportunity he needed to attack, chipping away at bone and spirit I guess, until the spirit recovered enough to get back into the air.

With every attack, the skull chipped and crack more; we were winning, we had the edge and it was going off without a hitch.

Overconfidence was one's undoing in a fight, I should have learned by now to not even thing along the lines of _we're winning, we've got this thing beat_, because it always gave us unwelcome surprises. I was also given a sharp reminder that Death Sword was rather fast when he wanted to be, when Link took a hit to the leg, causing both of us to involuntarily cry out - me in worry, Link in pain - _duh_.

After no more than a few seconds, the wound was profusely bleeding, Link's leg no longer able to support his weight.

Damn it! Before I could really think about what I was doing, I stepped up to help.

"Hey! Over here!" I shouted, briefly flashing back to a similar situation in the goron mines - I hadn't stood idly by then, either. I held my arms out at my sides. "I'm right here, tough guy! Come and get me!" I challenged.

Of course it took the bait, started to charge. Now, I had a trick up my sleeve in a manner of speaking; I'd kind of taken it upon myself to practice some of the Shade's hidden Skills while we'd rested in Kakariko, one of those skills being the Mortal Draw. I knew theory was far different from battle, but I'd pretty much perfected the move. I also knew it was a huge risk, and Link would be pissed at me for it if I survived, but I couldn't bring myself to care right then.

I heard him shouting at me, but I couldn't listen. I had to focus. At the last second, and at the exact moment I needed, I drew my sword with a powerful swing aimed right for Death Sword's skull.

That one last hit was all it took.

Death Sword drew back with an unholy shriek, deteriorating into pained howls as it writhed, skeletal hands on either side of its head. With one last shriek, the spirit disintegrated into nothing, along with its sword.

When the spirit dissipated, the light came into the room, the portcullis lock lifting from both the door and a hidden hallway to the side that I hadn't seen earlier.

_Those_ could wait.

With the adrenaline fading from my system, a tremble set in as I made my way to Link. By the time I reached him I was shaking so badly I couldn't stand, collapsing to my knees beside him. The second I did, Link was hugging my to him tightly, one hand on the back of my head - pushing more into his shoulder, really - and the other on my back. The action itself spoke volumes of what he didn't say, radiating relief, draining away fear, giving way to the pain from his injuries.

"Thank the goddesses..." I thought I heard him mutter into my hair. "What were you _thinking_?" he whispered.

I shrugged, though, had I scared him _that_ much?"

"That that thing was about to kill you." I answered casually. What I'd done was the only course of action that seemed to make sense, and there hadn't exactly been time to make a Plan B.

Midna showed up then to offer her two cents. _"Seems like that's the second time Rose's fast acting has saved your skin."_ she shared her observation with Link, before turning to me. _"And see? This is the kind of stuff Link was talking about earlier; you saved his life! I know **I** wouldn't have been able to act that quickly."_

That first part was reassuring, sealing in what I'd already acknowledged. The blood, however, seeping from Link's wound, was alarming.

"I don't have magic, we'll have to go about this the normal way." I sighed, more to myself, as I dug out the roll of bandages Renado had given me when we left. As I pulled Link's boot off and rolled his pantleg up to get a better look, I had to close my eyes at the stark red against the white fabric; I knew it probably wasn't as bad as it looked, but that was the thing - I _couldn't_ look at it if I wanted to keep my panic as minimal as possible.

"Hard to believe it was only a few days ago we were relaxing in Kakariko." I mused as I cleaned the wound. When the blood was less, well, _everywhere_, I could get a better look. The cut wasn't all that deep, when you considered that if Death Sword had gotten a lucky shot Link wouldn't even _have_ a leg, but the injury itself was in one of those really bad spots, which was why it couldn't take Link's weight.

"No kidding. It already feels like such a long time ago now. The desert makes it all seem longer." Link agreed, wincing when I started to wrap the bandage. I was hardly sparing with the roll, getting sand or an infection or other such thing was the last thing Link needed. I ended up used the whole roll, but now I was satisfied that no sand would be getting in.

"Nu uh - _no_. Sit back down, we're not leaving just yet. You are going to stay off that leg for the moment, and I'm going to get our new toy." I pointed towards the hallway that had opened, where the spinner waited.

* * *

Turned out, it was pretty hard to keep Link off his feet if he wanted to do something. In this case, that _something_ was 'continue on with getting through the dungeon'_. _He also wanted to try out the spinner, but that had to wait until he could properly stand. Somewhat.

"You're like a bloody child! You need to rest so your leg can mend properly. _Now **sit**_! Sit back down, or I'll sit on you!" I exclaimed, exasperated with him after the last five minutes of bickering. Midna was no help, she thought it was hilarious. Link must have thought it was pretty funny too, he was laughing even as I sat him down again for the third time.

"Current circumstances aside, I don't think that would stop me." Link teased. "After grappling with goats and Gorons, I don't imagine lifting you with me would be much trouble."

"Don't get cocky now, overconfidence can be a person's undoing." I jokingly chided, sitting down next to him. He laughed with me again, sounding more at ease than he had in a while. My laughter died off with a sigh. It was the middle of the day, no way I could sleep now, but it was nice to rest. Just as I closed my eyes to enjoy that rest, a thought occurred to me and I couldn't help but laugh.

"What?" Link asked, nudging my side curiously.

"Just thinking... a lot of couples on Earth come back to the place where they said their first 'I love you's, but... I don't think that's really applicable here. I _never_ want to come back here once we finish up." I explained, laughing again at how absurd that would be.

'_This is where we said 'i love you', right after a flying skull ambushed us'. _Yeah, _that_ would go over well.

"Yeah, I... don't think that works quite as well with us." Link agreed. I shrugged.

"Normal isn't really our thing, is it? I mean, from the whole 'me knowing way more than I should about you', to the fact that you're seventeen, I'm fifteen, and I was born about ninety years before you were." That made him laugh. Good, that was the intention.

"However, once we get this mess settled with Zant, I'm sure we can find our own normal. One that doesn't involve daily near-death experiences, undead soldiers, or monsters in general."

_Our_ normal. I liked the sound of that.

We just had to survive before it could happen.

* * *

_A/N: Looks like I had a little more fun than I thought, and the title doesn't relate to the chapter as well as I'd hoped. Still good though, yeah? Next chapter, wee bit of a time-skip, both in the fact that Link needs a day or two to recover and that I _really_ suck with trying to write anything involving the spinner. Anyways, bye!_


	6. Why Flying Skeletons Aren't Allowed

_A/N: This is another fun part, and I had a lot of fun trying to think of a title for this chapter. Hopefully, it does it justice. Review replies below!_

_Helpfull person (Guest): I make a habit of replying to my reviewers, dearie. I'm glad you decided to read my story from the beginning, I hope you enjoy it :)_

_Hooray for you (Guest): Honestly, this latest string of updates is surprising me. Considering last year it took me the whole of summer to write one chapter of my revisions, getting so many chapters out in less than two weeks is thrilling._

_Yourmother (Guest): Okay, for one by saying that I'm taking credit for Selphie's work, you're implying that I _didn't _acknowledge her. For two, regrets/guilts and fears are two entirely different things. For three, an author can be inspired by another author. For four, how do you _really _know that Selphie's the only one to have done something like that with the poes? Maybe there's some other obscure fanfictions, or even just people that had a similar idea. I won't debate this with you any longer. If you _really _want to argue with me, PM me._

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: Yes, yes they did! Unfortunately, they won't have the time to properly appreciate it. They've gotta get out of the dungeon first._

_Zetra Shink: Yes, I'd been meaning for them to say it eventually, after the whole kiss thing in the Sacred Grove. And while Link _did _mean it, it was also to make her less embarrassed about having said it. I thought it'd be cute. _

_TwilightPrincess3: Glad to hear you like it! :3_

_Here's johney (Guest): What can I say? I don't know when to stop. I may remove one of them though, it doesn't _really _need to be there. I'll re-evaluate when I get to it. _

_SaiyanEpicness: Thanks for the advice~ And thank you for understanding that I'm trying :)_

_PS. Seeing as an insistent anonymous reviewer just isn't satisfied with my explanation, I'll just have to come out and say it directly; _**I give full credit to Selphie Kinneas 175 for the inspiration to write the Poes as I did. Her idea inspired mine, I am in no way trying to take credit for her sensational work. **

* * *

Chapter 6: Why Flying Skeletons Aren't Allowed

A day and a half of rest, stuck in the same room, Link was not happy with me. '_At least you can walk now, right?_' I'd asked when we finally left. He admitted that I was right, but he still wasn't happy about the wasted time. I, on the other hand, as eager as I was to leave, was far less enthusiastic about leaving.

I did _not_ like our new toy. I'd had to use it once straight away upon retrieving it, but I did not like the spinner. It made me dizzy, and I wasn't too keen on avoiding spiky wall spinner traps.

Unfortunately, the next room required a lot of the spinner. There were puzzles, and more spiky rollers of death, and stalfos and spiky rail traps and jumping from rail to rail... It was _terrifying. _

I was more than glad when my feet were on solid, non-dizzying ground again, and what I saw on the other side of the door made it all slightly less not worth it. The big key, our ticket out of here.

Upon retrieving the key, we caught our way on the rails -and over the swirling pit of doom that had previously blocked our way to the big key- back into the familiar circular room from the day before. Only now, the strange gear-like hole in the floor was explained. The spinner had to go in there, and then spin the room around to open the next area. It was all very complicated, and I couldn't help but wonder for the umpteenth time why something like this was in a prison. It seemed to support my theory about the bad guys messing everything up to make it harder for us.

As the spinner, well, spun, the turning gears beneath the floor worked their magic and a large portion of the wall slid away to reveal a new circular room. The floor was mostly quicksand, save for one spot some distance away to our left, as well as a safe zone around the very obvious large pillar in the middle of the room and a spiralling staircase that clung to the wall.

The spinner was our ticket across to the other safe zone on the floor, latching onto a set of rails that followed the exact same path as the broken stairs. Trying to avoid dizziness, I ended up all but hiding in Link's tunic, so I wouldn't have to see our rapid ascension.

Despite the obvious platform at the top of the obvious pillar in the middle of the room, Link allowed the spinner to take us to the very top of the stairs and spiral. Upon regaining dubious footing, I saw that there wasn't much up there, just more spear-fences and skulls.

Wait- no, I was wrong.

"A fairy!" I exclaimed. "Link, there's a fairy!" I pointed to the familiar pink glow that healing fairies gave off, encompassed in one of the skulls.

I spared a brief thought to realize that I was touching someone's _skull_, before carefully easing the trapped fairy out from the bottom. It fluttered forward, about to heal me and my superficial injuries, but instead I pointed it to Link. It was true that after our day of rest, he was better than before, but I didn't like the look of his limp. The fairy seemed to have gotten the point, fluttering over to him instead. With the cliche sparkly sound that fairies generally made, the little pink healer did its work on Link's leg.

I waited for a beat until after the fairy disappeared -seriously, where did they _go?_- for Link's verdict, as he tested his walking ability. Not perfect, but much better.

"Ready to fight?" I asked. We were about to go up against the Stallord, plus anything else that decided that the fight _wasn't_ hard enough on its own. Or maybe Zant had another trick up his sleeves to cause us trouble. I wanted to be sure; the fairy may have mostly healed Link, but he didn't need to go and get hurt even more. Neither of us did.

"Probably." Link's answer wasn't all that reassuring, but at least he wasn't limping.

We made our way back down the stairs until we were just above level with the center platform. We'd have to jump for it, and since I didn't have my magic...

"We'll have to get a running start." I said uneasily, backing up to the wall both in preparation and anxiousness. I didn't want to look over the edge and possibly lose my nerve. Midna appeared from Link's shadow before either of us could start our jumps.

"_Don't worry, I'll help you guys if you don't make it,"_ she said, flying over to the edge of the platform where we intended to jump. She'd helped me pull Link up before, I didn't see how this was different. It was a little more reassuring now. Link went first, running from the wall to the end of the stairs and leaping off. I held my breath as he flew through the air, glanced the edge of the platform and Midna caught him, pulling him up; much better than the game, she was actually being helpful.

Still, I was hesitant.

"Don't worry, we won't let you fall," Link called to me. I gave a little nod, backing up to the wall again. Before my waning nerve could flee entirely, I started to run forward. I kept my eyes strictly on Link and Midna, knowing I would freeze up if I looked down, and jumped as high and hard as I could when I reached the edge. There was an instant spike of fear when I was in the air, nothing below me but quicksand, until I felt my hands grasp the edge of the platform. It was a jolt of pain down my arms, but it was barely a second before I was being helped up.

"Thanks," I managed, once they'd pulled me up. "I hate this place..." I grumbled, more to myself. Still, Midna giggled.

There was another spinning gear mechanism like the one from the previous room, and once Link actually started spinning, two torches on either side of him lit up - where was the logic in that? _Right_, it's a Zelda game - and the ground shook as spiraling rail came up from the ground and into the air, giving us our path to the Stallord chamber.

"More spinning, wonderful." I couldn't help my comment, as we got onto the spinner once Link attached it to the rails.

The spinner didn't get the memo that it was supposed to stop spinning when we reached the top, only coming to a halt when it crashed into a wall and sent Link and I flying to the ground. At least we didn't fall _all_ the way down to the ground floor. That would have hurt more than the impact with the floor.

Both of us were hesitant to approach the door to the boss chamber, even as the big key magically wriggled it's way from Link's bag into the air, removing the lock for us. I took a startled step back when the giant lock larger than my entire body clattered to the ground. I did _not _like those things. The door opened easily enough, again with Midna's help, though it was crashing back to the ground the second we were in the next room. The Stallord's chamber.

It was mostly circular, dark, a little dilapidated like everything else in this dungeon, and there was a wide path that led down the sandy slope towards the center of the room. That was where the Stallord, still currently just a dead husk, rested.

It looked so creepy! I'd seen skeletons before, unfortunately up close and personal, but this was something else entirely. I found myself wondering what it had been in life, not for the first time. There had been theories on earth, but none of them made sense to me.

I shivered, stepping back from the skull; that thing could eat me in one bite, I wasn't going to tempt fate by being too close when it woke up.

An eerie laugh echoed through the room, Link and I both tensed, drawing our swords.

"You still live... intriguing." Zant's raspy voice drawled throughout the room. The usurper king flickered into existence above the Stallord's skull. I involuntarily stepped back again, just as Link moved - only slightly - to put himself between us.

"No wonder you're hailed as '_heroes_'." I could practically see the air quotes around the word. "But this is truly a bittersweet reunion, truly! For I fear this is the last time I will see either of you alive!" With the last sentence, a slightly manic tone escaped Zant, not sounding nearly as calm as I figured he'd intended.

With a burst of dark magic, a large sword appeared between Zant's hands. Spinning it a few times, as if to show it off, he drove it into the forefront of the Stallord's skull with an angry cry. A wave of red energy washed over the skeleton and after a few seconds' pause, Zant turned around and warped away.

A loud rumble shook the cavernous room, and the empty eye sockets of the stallord began to glow red. The skeletal beast rose from the sand, the light in the room becoming brighter when it roared - _skeletons aren't supposed to roar!-_ reading up to its full height, sans legs. With another ear-splitting roar, the battle begun.

The Stallord looked slightly more demonic than the game let on; it was _terrifying_.

"I don't know about you, but its spine looks pretty vulnerable from here." I hinted to Link. He wasted no time hopping onto the spinner and shooting towards the Stallord's spine; it was even more brittle than I'd thought, the vertebrates cracked and crumbled within moments of Link's impact. The creature jolted down the two levels, and Link was sent backwards towards the safe-zone in front of the door we'd come from.

It appeared now that the Stallord intended to kill us with fire, so we really had no choice but to ride the rails along the wall until he stopped.

A number of skeletons had crawled up from the sand, probably intended to keep us from reaching the Stallord's spine again. Pushing off from the rails, Link and I went in for a second attack.

Crashing into the skeletons was like a game of pinball. It was terrible, and I felt like my bones might just shake apart with every jolt. We had to take another rail ride to regain lost momentum from the unintended pinball game before taking another try. Anticipating the cluster of skeletons that appeared when we grew closer to the Stallord, we blew right past then and crashed into its spine. The jarring impact was entirely worth it as two more levels of the Stallord's spine collapsed. Only two more, which was one more hit.

The spinner managed to stay up long enough to get us back to the rails. There were more skeletons, as well as blade traps that made it impossible to simply bide our time to attack.

Despite the already massive number of skeletons, even more rose up to protect the spine just as we got close. There were a few close calls, and more sand than I care to mention. It was also probably not the best idea for us to both be on the spinner, but there wasn't time to argue it out, and I didn't feel like turning into a skeleton's barbeque if he decided to try and roast me, so it was dangerous but still safer than the alternative.

My bones rattled again as we bounced off the skeletons, making a wide circle on the rails and jumping off at the same spot. The skeletons we'd crumbled the first time around were no longer in the way.

One more hit, and that was that. We wisely got out of the way as the last piece of the spine crumbled, and the Stallord thrashed. The entire body collapsed and crumbled, sinking below the sand, which began to rapidly drain out of the room. Before long, solid ground was beneath our feet again, and the red glow was long faded from the skull's eye sockets.

"Is that it?" I heard Link ask as the sand finished draining away.

"If only it were that easy." I sighed. "Come on, let's check it out," I gestured towards the skull and - more importantly - the spinner-shaped hole in the floor. If I was right, we had to use the spinner to raise a platform, and _then_ the second half of the boss battle would begin.

The ground rumbled, the platform that took up about a third of the floor space rose up until it was level with the doors. A noise behind us alerted us to the fact that the Stallord was not entirely dead. Yes, already knew this, but it was still startling.

The realization was made known just in time for the flying skull - as that was all that was left of it - to shoot towards us and send us flying over the edge of the platform. I tried to raise my sword - not much of a defense, it wasn't that smart of me - and all I managed to achieve was getting my sword knocked from my hand. Then we were falling

Much the same as the hit from King Bulblin, the air rushed out of my lungs with a 'whoosh' upon the landing. A pained, airless groan was quick to follow.

_This_ was one of the _many _reasons why flying skeletons shouldn't be allowed.

Once we'd recovered, it was a simple matter of riding the rails up to the same level as the Stallord skull and attacking. There was a short argument with Link that yes, the spinner was dangerous but being on the ground was even worse at the moment, which I ended up losing, then Link was on his way up. Aside from that, Link just had to ride the rails up and attack the Stallord. Simple, right?

Not so simple, when it attacked first. He had to take a leap of faith to the opposite wall, the rails on that side _barely_ catching the spinner, and then came back to the center-spiral when it was clear.

Another leap later, the spinner collided with the flying skull. Link was thrown off the spinner, but much closer to the ground than when we were thrown. The first attack was done, now all that needed to be done was smash the sword in the skull. Multiple times.

As the fight continued, I was reminded of the fact that I had to actually watch out for the Stallord's attacks, very barely avoiding being turned into an aforementioned skeleton barbeque as I tried to find my sword. I couldn't, and I briefly worried that perhaps the sand had simply swallowed it up.

Then again, I wouldn't need to worry about being turned into a barbeque if I had my magic.

I was again reminded about just how helpful I _wasn't_ when my magic wasn't working, despite Link's assurances. Another attempt at using Nayru's Love only showed a flickering crystal, barely visible.

_Why now, of all times, did my magic have to fail me?_

The next spinner attack would not be so simple; this time, the Stallord summoned blade traps to make the way harder. Twice I counted Link _almost_ getting the skull, but a glancing blow from the Stallord's fireballs or a blade trap knocked him down. I couldn't see as well from a distance, but he was holding his right arm as he ventured up the rails for a third time; dodging between rails much more quickly this time, he managed to get a second hit on the Stallord. I actually had to dodge out of the way, because the flying skull nearly ended up landing on me when Link hit it.

Turned out, two attacks was all the second half of the battle needed.

With another roar that flying skulls shouldn't be able to make, the Stallord flew upwards, coming to a stop just before the ceiling, and falling again. It clattered loudly against the walls, hitting the ground hard enough to shake the room, coming to a stop about a quarter of the way around the circle from where we were.

The skull crumbled, leaving behind Zant's sword. It was eerie, just like its owner. I once again remembered that I was on a hunt for my own sword. A run around the circle showed that it had disappeared completely.

"Well that's just _great_!" I exclaimed sarcastically, my voice echoing back at me. "My sword's gone!"

After a third sweep with Midna and Link's help, we confirmed it; my sword had disappeared, or been eaten by the sand.

"I'm sure we can get another one in Castle Town. I'll be... an adjustment, but you'll have a sword." Link reassured me, and I shrugged. It wouldn't be hard, just a bit pricey. There was also the Ordon Sword though, and I opened my mouth to offer the suggestion when I had another thought.

I glanced from Zant's sword to the Master Sword, and an idea came to my head.

"Can I suggest something a little bit crazy?"

The Master Sword was the blade of evil's bane. Zant's sword was evil. The Master Sword removed the evil crystals from Link and I when we got near it. What if it did the same to Zant's sword? I offered my theory to Link, with the Ordon Sword as a Plan B. After a few seconds' deliberation, he nodded.

"It's worth a shot."

When the Master Sword came in contact with Zant's nothing happened, not at first. After a few seconds, the sword seemed to go dark, before shards of twilight exploded outward, leaving a different looking sword where it had sat. The red-patterned casing that covered nearly two thirds of the blade itself had shattered with the twilight, leaving a shining blade in its wake. The sword's handle was a little smaller than mine, but nothing I couldn't adjust to. The Sheikah-like eye on the pommel was an interesting addition.

"It actually _worked_... I guess that saves us the money," I added the second part as an afterthought as I marveled at the sword. My own had looked like a toned-down version of the Goddess Sword in Skyward Sword, but this was something else.

"_You guys ready to get out of here? The mirror of Twilight's waiting..."_ Midna reminded us softly. We both nodded – I had to put my new sword in my bag until I could get a proper sheath for it, mine didn't fit. I thoughtlessly grabbed Link's arm before starting towards the rails that were our way out of here. I dropped his hand like I'd been shocked when he suddenly gasped in pain. I felt a pang of guilt when I remembered how he'd been holding his arm earlier; he was hurt.

"I'm sorry– I forgot–" I stopped, words failing me. Link waved it off with his good arm and a little -forced- half smile.

The ascent was about as quiet as a noisy spinner could be, and a bridge that hadn't been there before greeted us at the top of the platform, opening our way to the mirror chamber.

"We're nearly done," Link said quietly, relief palpable. Again I felt guilty, knowing that we'd only come this far for a broken mirror.

Gods, midna was going to be _so_ upset.

* * *

The cool night breeze was a welcome relief, after nearly four days with the stagnant air that smelled like death. Out here, it was just... dry. It _tasted_ dry, but at least it was fresh air. I wasn't going to complain, but that didn't mean I wasn't excited to head back to Castle Town or Kakariko.

The stairs that led up to the mirror chamber were broken and crumbling away, causing a bit of difficulty and more running starts than I cared to count. Then we were there; just down a hallway and through a stone archway, and we were there. The mirror chamber.

There was a statue of a woman towering above us in the center of the arena-like room, another set of rails coiled around her frame like a snake. No...wait, the rails were attached _to_ a statue of a snake that was coiled around what I assumed was the desert goddess that Gerudos worshipped.

It was just the matter of riding the rails to the top, doing the magic with the spinner to bring the mirror up and the statue down.

Before we'd taken two steps, dark pillars dropped down all around us. Shadow Beasts. I'd completely forgotten they'd be here. Looks like I'd get to use my new sword sooner than expected. The fight would be a little harder without magic, but I couldn't let it be a crutch, I had to be able to function without it if I needed to.

The portal came together in the air above us, dropping _five_ Shadow Beasts to take us on.

What none of them would account for, that not even I had, was that Link had the Master Sword, and I had _their_ master's sword. Huh, that was funny. Either way, the Master Sword had a power all its own, making it a lot easier to take the beasts out with a single attack. Granted, it would have to be one of Link's stronger attacks like a spin or jump attack, but a single attack nonetheless. Me, on the other hand, I was still adjusting to Zant's sword; it was heavier than mine, that on its own was need for adjustment, but it was _strong_. If an enemy blocked an attack before, it sent almost a shock up the blade, which was the cause of my dropping it several times, but _this_ sword... It didn't absorb the shock, it sent it back towards the enemy.

It was startling the first time, but it was _much_ better.

When all of the Shadow Beasts had fallen, they dissolved into the dark blue-lined twilight shards with an almost static crackle, coming together to form a blue portal. Another warp location, that was easy.

Link wasted no time riding his way to the top of the statue –while I ended up fighting off a few interested Keese.

I assumed there was another spinner mechanism at the top, explaining why Link hadn't come back down. Moments after, the pillars that stood around the arena-room started to rise. Attached to chains beneath the ground, they began to pull something from the sand as the statue of the _possible_ goddess of Sand sunk into it. The ground beneath me began to shake, and I realized I was standing _on_ the platform that the mirror of Twilight was situated on. The frame rose first, then the ground I was standing on.

The chains attached to the pillars freed their attachment from the sand, a giant black stone; no exaggeration, it was _huge_.

I moved to rejoin Link and Midna, the former of which had yet to notice the mirror stand. Midna was staring at the same, horrified.

"_L_– _Link... The mirror..."_

Link and I followed Midna's gaze, back to the mirror's frame.

"_It's... broken."_

* * *

_A/N: I hope you liked it~ I know I'm not the best at action sequences, one of the reasons this took me longer than the last chapters, but still. _


	7. Fragmented

_A/N: Hello all! This installment may be a little shorter than the last, it may not. It all depends on how my muse cooperates. We've got a little anger, and a _lot_ of storytelling. Hope you like it! Here's the review replies! _

_RandomButLoved: Glad to hear it!_

_SaiyanEpicness: Can't say I know when exactly, but yes there'll be more scenes from them. _

_Zetra Shink: Oh, we're getting into that right from the get-go, Midna's reaction. I hope you like it :)_

_godofmadness43: Yes, I think we've all been waiting for this for awhile. _

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: Yes, and poor Link with his arm :/ I feel mean for doing that. _

_MasterShortPantsx3: Just glad to hear from you, it's totally fine bby! _

_Yourmother (Guest): I'm sorry. I have a bit of a temper problem, I didn't mean to come across as snappy. And you do have a point, but... well. _

_Thisreadingotaku: Glad to see you caught up to us, dearie!_

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Chapter 7: Fragmented

Midna took it harder than I'd thought, her reactions going from horror to anger, anger to... desolation. She was perched on the ledge beside the mirror's frame, and was silent. In fact, there was no noise at all save for the wind and the wings of distant keese.

"_You knew, didn't you?"_ Well, it was silent until Midna asked me that. I took in a deep breath. " _The story of the Twilight Princess... you knew the mirror was broken."_She wasn't wrong, but how to explain how delicate the events of the future were?

"Midna, I... You have to understand, changing future events, even only telling you the mirror was broken, could have unpredictable consequences-"

"_Like __**what**__?"_ she demanded, cutting me off. Her anger shouldn't have been as surprising as it was. _"What could have gone _so badly_ that you couldn't tell us that our efforts over the last _week_ were _useless_?!"_

"I didn't know, and that was the problem!" I snapped back, my own temper rising as I defended myself. "I didn't want anything worse to happen to us!"

Midna scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"_And this is so much better? This mirror was our last link to Zant, our only way to get close enough to stop him! Now it's broken!" _she raged, having risen from the ground with her tiny hands now clenched into trembling fists.

"You think I don't know that? I used to know this story back to front, trust me when I say I _know_ how important the Mirror is!" I retorted. I went on to continue, but then Link was putting himself between us.

"Yelling at each other isn't going to get us anywhere. And," he pointed above us to the pillars once he had our attention. "We have company."

The Sages. In my argument with the imp princess, I'd forgotten that the sages were going to make an appearance and pass on some important information. There was a sage for each pillar that surrounded the colosseum, except for one. The pillars had symbols upon them - fire, shadow, forest, spirit, light, though the pillar with the water symbol was the broken one- and each sage atop them looked like sentinels, expressionless masks upon their ghostly faces and draping robes that looked almost... regal. The whole appearance emanated wisdom.

"_A dark entity lurks in the Twilight... It houses an evil power."_

I couldn't tell which sage was speaking, or if they were all speaking in unison. Barely more than a whisper, yet it was... was no tone, it was just empty. The Sage of Fire - Darunia? That was the sage of fire in Ocarina of Time - spoke next.

"_You who are guided by fate... You who possess the crest of the goddesses... Hear us."_

Link and I shared a look, and the sages descended from their pillars, coming down until they hovered just above us in their circle. The Sage of Shadow - Impa, or a past version of her - continued where the previous sage left off.

"_At the command of the goddesses, we sages have guarded the Mirror of Twilight since ancient times."_

"_You seek it... but the Mirror of Twilight has been fragmented by mighty magic."_

"_That magic is a dark power that only _he _possesses..."_

The emphasis on _he_, as though this _he _was a very special person, was not lost on me.

"_His name is...__**Ganondorf**__."_

The Sages seemed to envelope the area around us in magic, my vision was going dark. In fact, all of my senses seemed to be fading. Before everything went completely black, I reached out and grabbed Link's hand, if only to make sure he was still there. The world was black for several moments, before the sages continued their speech in unison. As they spoke the tale of Ganondorf, the leader of a band of thieves set on establishing dominion over the Sacred Realm, the images and senses faded back in.

First, there was fire, everywhere. The smell and feel of it invaded my nose, mixed with dirt and ashes. I no longer felt Link's hand in mine, but steadfastly kept it still. I knew here was with me, but it was like I was actually _there_. I knew hat was the Sages' doing. I had to remind myself of that a few times as Ganondorf appeared in the fire, rearing up on his demonic horse.

"_He was known as a demon thief, an evil-magic wielder renowned for his ruthlessness..."_

My senses faded, as did the smell of fire and ash, the heat of the flames no longer pushing at me.

"_But he was blind..."_

When my sight returned, Link was again with me, and we were back in the Mirror Chamber. In the past. Ganon was chained to the large stone we'd seen earlier, the sages gathered in a crescent shape in front of him. Ganon's attempted execution, that's what this was.

"_In all of his fury and might, he was blind to any danger, and thus was exposed, subdued, and brought to justice."_

Ganon's yellow eyes and evil, superior smirk was enough to send a shiver down my spine. I was definitely not looking forward to meeting him for real. The sage in the middle, the sage of water, levitated its sword in front of it, spinning and rotating it until it was perfectly vertical. Without so much as twitching, the sage shot the sword forward. It spun in the air a few times before embedding itself in Ganondorf's chest. A choked cry escaped the Gerudo, before his upper half slumped, dead. He was still held to the stone by chains and now the sword, so he did not fall.

"_Yet..."_

Ganon's hands twitched, clenching into fists. I was able to make out a vague impression of the triforce on his hand. Slowly, so slowly, he lifted his head only slightly. Moments later her jerked upwards quickly enough to make me jump, animalistic growls escaping him as he pulled at the chain binding his left hand. When the chain and manacle snapped away, he jerked his arm forward, palm facing him, to show off the triforce on his hand.

"_By some divine prank, he, too, had been blessed with the chosen power of the  
gods."_

The sage of water shied back, a frightened gasp coming from it as Ganon pulled his other arm free with another roar. The second he was free, he shot for the sage, crushing it like nothing. The others jerked away as Ganon pulled the sword free from his chest. I hadn't seen it before, he'd been too far away, but with his teeth bared in a snarl it was plainly obvious that two of his teeth on his bottom jaw were pointed like an animal's fangs, and his eyes had gone black. Demonic.

At some unsung signal, the sages reached one ghostly arm towards the Mirror of Twilight; tilting back, it gives off an unearthly light that reaches for the black stone which had previously held Ganondorf. The symbols from the mirror seemed to project from the mirror, through the air and onto a large portion of the stone. The symbols began to move and shift, the portal to the Twilight Realm was opening.

And Ganon was being sucked into it. Despite all his struggle, he could not fight it and was pulled into the dark realm.

As though it had never happened, the second it was over everything reverted to how it had been. I would have questioned whether or not it had happened at all were it not for three of the sages crowded around the empty mask of the dead sage, and for the fact that Ganon was no longer in the Mirror Chamber.

The vision faded, and Link, Midna and I were back in the present. The Sages' ghostly hands were now hovering over their masks, a sign of grief.

"_His abiding hatred and lust for power turned to purest malice... Perhaps that evil power has been passed on to Zant..."_ the sages finished in unison. I heard Midna scoff again, the sound lacking the energy it had when she'd been yelling at me. Now she was desolate, without even the spark to come up with a snarky response.

"_You're just now figuring out where Zant got his power? ...It's too late, now..."_ She muttered, sulking against the one remaining quarter of the mirror. I remembered this part, now, remembered the words, so I spoke up with the sages.

"Only the true leader of the Twili can utterly destroy the Mirror of Twilight... Zant's nothing more than a usurper, so he could only fragment it." My words differed from the sages, but the meaning and intent were generally the same. The sages continued where I left off, and I saw Midna slowly perking up, cautiously hopeful.

"_Once broken by magic, the Mirror of Twilight became fragments, which even now lie hidden across the land of Hyrule."_

"And I know where they are. Mostly." I added quietly.

"_One is in the snowy mountain heights,"_ the sage of light started.

"_Another, in an ancient grove,"_ the sages of spirit and forest said together.

"_And the final piece is in the heavens..."_ That one, I _did_ say with the sages of fire and shadow.

"_You who have been sent by the goddesses... You should be able to gather the  
three pieces... But you must be prepared, for a dangerous power resides in those fragments..."_

"_And another, its power equal to that of the fragments, now hunts you. Chosen one of Hylia, you know to whom we refer."_

Astaroth's company, the four remaining generals. Ardea, Hael, Edriel and Cariel. That was no surprise, but it was more than inconvenient.

"Can't imagine why they'd stop, and I doubt Ardea's happy that her plan to kidnap Carmen and Bethany was thwarted." I sighed. The sages said nothing to confirm nor deny what I said, simply floated back up to their pedestals and disappeared. Again, it was silent for a long few minutes.

"_Rose... how many times did you read or hear this story?"_ Midna wondered. I shrugged at her.

"I lost count. It came out seven years ago, when I was about eight years old again. I really have no clue. Why do you ask?" I responded curiously. She shrugged back.

"_You practically quoted the sages word for word._" she said by way of explanation. I couldn't help a little laugh, even if it was more than a little embarrassing to have it pointed out just how well I knew the story.

"Alright, so I was a little obsessed with you guys. What else can I say?" I asked, holding my arms out in a 'what can you do' gesture. Despite the situation, it got them to laugh. That had been what I was going for.

"Great. So... Kakariko? Castle Town? Where're we headed?" I asked. Carmen, Bethany and Scott would be more than glad to see us, alive and mostly well, not to mention the Ordon kids. But then, I also needed to discuss some stuff with my mother, and she was in Castle Town. It was a toss-up, and came down to whatever Link decided, because I was okay with either one.

* * *

As irritating as it could be in the game -getting caught whilst in wolf form ended up in you having to go through the cutscene of him freaking out, and everyone hiding inside - Talo's watchful eye over Kakariko village was commendable; It was in the earliest hours of the morning, and still he was there to shout to us when we appeared -in our human forms- to the village. Carmen and Renado were the first to come and greet us, the former raising an eyebrow at our more-than-a-little disheveled states and the latter frowning as he took in the many injuries that were now scattered over us.

"Given that you are both in one piece, I imagine it went better than your previous endeavor." was all he had to say. I shrugged with a laugh, accepting a welcoming hug from Carmen.

"Might have to take a look at our ribs again, but... yeah, I'd say we're mostly in one piece."

The adrenaline that had faded in and out over the last week had completely subsided, making me far more aware of my aching torso - both from the Bulblin King's battleaxe and the Stallord.

Carmen still had a lot to learn in the way of medical study, so it would be Renado to tend to the both our more major injuries. Carmen was on 'band-aid duty', as she called it. Bandaging the cuts and scrapes, putting some kind of herbal paste on the bruises. Despite the ache in my ribs, the relief that said herbal mix came with was almost enough to make me sag with relief. It was cool and almost numbing, kind of like Tiger Balm. A quick explanation from Carmen showed they were pretty similar.

"So, I take it you had fun," Carmen had commented when she re-bandaged the wound on my hand from the Moldorm's fang. I shrugged.

"Lot's of stuff happened. We got hit with a giant axe, fought a bunch of dead people and I got a new sword. I'll admit, I like this one. And, I may or may not have exhausted my magic." I responded in the same offhand tone, like we were discussing the weather. Her serene face became a frown.

"...Repeat that last bit?"

"I drained my magic, I can't use it until it's completely regenerated." I reiterated. My younger friend sighed, like she was about to scold me, before laughing softly instead.

"How'd you manage that?"

"Link got caught on his shoulder by a re-dead's cleaver, I had to heal him or else he'd bleed out. Could have used it later too, when Death Sword got his leg, but we ended up finding a fairy for that." I answered nonchalantly. We were safe now, it was easier to talk about when I knew the current danger had passed. Renado was just in the next room taking care of Link.

"How were things here while we were away?" I asked. Carmen was suddenly smiling _very _widely.

"A prank war started up between Bethany and Scott for one. Scott taught her how to use a bow, and I learned some more medical stuff from Renado. The herbs, mostly," she gestured to one of the bandaged areas where she'd applied the paste. "Aren's kid Ben started calling me his best friend, and... that other woman, Twill, she's been acting... strange." the last sentence was spoken with a frown.

"Are you sure it's not just stress? People change when stress-levels are high, and what happened to the village during this whole mess could definitely be a cause for stress." I suggested, and she just shrugged. Renado appeared in the doorway then, relieving Carmen of her 'position' so he could properly examine my ribs. Not much was spoken between us, except for his diagnosis of at least three more cracked ribs, one nearly broken.

"...Thank you, for putting up with all of this." I spoke up once he'd finished. There was a bit of a silence before he responded.

"I do what I do because I want to, there's no need to thank me."

I would have gone into more detail, considering he'd saved mine and Link's lives and had indeed put up with our smaller injuries since the day we'd shown up in Kakariko and restored the light, but Talo's panicked shouts from outside dropped the conversation in a heartbeat.

The young boy's words weren't clear, but 'monster' was definitely in there.

It couldn't be bulblins, could it? I hardly thought about it as I grabbed my sword and equipment regardless of the persistent ache of my injuries, despite Carmen's herbs. Link was right there alongside me in hardly a moment. Two more sets of rushed footsteps followed us - Bethany and Scott; where had they been? Sleeping? Either way, they definitely weren't now.

Outside was chaos; the Gorons were all around, either preparing for a fight or ushering the kids towards the Sanctuary along with Aren, Ilia and Twill, and I could hear the familiar sound of running paws - _wolves._ What were they called again? Lycra, or something like that. Either way, I had a hunch that they were on their way to do what they couldn't last time; capture Bethany and Carmen. Scott and I were here now too, it was all too perfect for them to attack now, when the four of us were together and I was magic-less.

The villagers were huddled in the cellar now, it was just the four of us and Link.

"Where's Ben?"

A whispered curse came past gritted teeth, as I realized the young boy was nowhere in sight. Carmen was suddenly headed for the sanctuary door with a call of "I'll find him!"

"Carmen, come back!" Damn it, this was exactly the kind of thing they'd want! I went to chase after her, but was cut off by Link and Scott.

"Rose, you've got to stay here. They want _you_, more than Carmen or I. I'll bring her and Ben back!" Scott cut off my protest before it could even start. He and Link shared some kind of look, and then he wasn't letting me go as Scott ran out of the sanctuary.

"Link please, let me go! I have to help- -let me go!" I shouted as I pulled against his grip - I couldn't just _sit there_! I had to do something!

"Scott's right! It's you they want more, and from what you've told me - if Ardea gets her hands on you..." Link's voice had broken just a little bit, and my struggles calmed; during my recovery from the arrow fiasco, I'd gotten information from Roran about the generals. Ardea had taken up torture, that was one of the things I'd learned. If Ardea got her hands on me, who knew what she'd do to me. I also knew that if somebody wanted to take the Spiritus Potens from me, I'd have to die. Putting the two together, she could take her sweet time killing me and still get what she wanted.

Link and Scott were right. If I was captured... putting it lightly, that would be _bad_.

The sounds of fighting erupted outside; Gorons versus Lycra and Skari. I could see Carmen and Scott - Ben was with them, I quickly noted - already running back towards the sanctuary.

_Wait_-

"Watch out!" I screamed when suddenly one of the demons took a swing at Scott from behind. I couldn't stop myself that time from trying to run for the door when one of my closest friends fell to the ground, the other quickly snatched up by one of the demons. I wasn't aware that Link was stopping me again, or that I was struggling and screaming as Carmen was dragged onto one of the wolves.

Scott tried to get to his feet, stumbled but ran for the wolf that Carmen was situated on; he was sent flying back by some kind of invisible magic.

"We have to do something- we have to get her- _please_!"

The rumbling of the ground was telling of the fact that another pack of Gorons was descending from the mountain; not fast enough. The demon that had grabbed Carmen - not a demon, upon a second look, but a cloaked figure - bellowed for a retreat.

It had hardly been five minutes, and it was over. I managed to struggle from Link's hold, get outside just as the wolf pack rode away.

"Carmen! Carmen! _No_!" I couldn't stop; they had her. The generals - one of which was _Carmen's mother_ - had my best friend.

Logic came back into play when I realized that I very much could not chase after the wolves on foot, and I stopped. My knees were locked, elsewise I imagine I would have fallen to the ground.

The generals had Carmen; I tried not to think about what that could mean for my younger friend.

Everything became a blur to my senses; words were everywhere, but they were senseless. I don't quite remember when the blurry scenery shifted from brown to green, or when that green 'scenery' led me into the sanctuary. I was speaking, but I don't even remember what I said. It could have been minutes or hours before awareness returned. We were in the sanctuary, my friends -that is, the two that were still here- on one side of me, Link on the other. His arm was wrapped over my shoulder, an act of comfort. The next thing I became aware of was that my eyes were stinging and dry - I'd been crying. That explained the blur.

"They have Carmen." I murmured, my voice sounding dead. A statement, no anger or sadness - nothing to feel. Just words.

A goron appeared in the door of the sanctuary, said that one of the demons - Skari, I remembered in a small corner of my mind - had been left behind, alive but injured.

That brought everything back; anger, loss, fury. Link wouldn't stop me this time. I stood up fast enough that I saw Scott startle in my peripheral, stormed out of the sanctuary and to the place the injured Skari Hunter lay. Anger fuelling me, I yanked the demon to its feet, pinned it to the wall with my sword at its throat.

"Why does Ardea want Carmen and Bethany?" I demanded, my voice surprisingly in-control for the rage in my system. "Tell me, _now!_" The demon scoffed, and I pressed the blade harder as a wordless threat.

"_Why does she want them?"_ I shouted, aforementioned control having slipped away. I felt a hand on my shoulder, shrugged it off - I wasn't going to stop until this _thing _answered me. It laughed, then.

"Know the enemy's weakness. Now they know yours." it choked out, before literally _pushing itself into my blade_. I skittered back at the action, but it was too late to stop it; the demon disintegrated into black dust before my eyes as it died. The sword fell from limp fingers.

_Know the enemy's weakness_. Ardea wanted to capture both Carmen and Bethany to get to me, it had little-to-nothing to do with _them_. But I could be wrong. They could have some bigger part. But getting to me, that was the key point.

As the anger drained away again, it left behind that emptiness - a defense mechanism; when it hurts too much to feel, stop feeling. It wasn't voluntary, it was a trait I'd adopted on earth. And now it wasn't just pain, but anger. If I let myself feel that anger, I didn't know what I'd do.

I was brought back into the sanctuary. Renado was hesitant to venture back to the motel, even for the things they'd need to 'camp out' here.

"They're gone, they got what they came for." I dissuaded, my voice still sounding dead even to me. "It's safe now."

I didn't fail to notice the worried look exchanged between Link and Renado, as the shaman _did_ head for the door. I was guided from the hard bench to a bedroll, Link laying down beside me. We'd go to castle town the next day, get help. From my mother, maybe Impa. We'd also get to work on the other quest; our destination was Snowpeak. Link said that could wait until we got Carmen back, but we didn't know when that would be. I told him as much, told him the Mirror shard was more important - as much as it hurt to put the issue of my friend being _kidnapped_ on the sidelines.

"Don't worry, we'll get her back." Link whispered to me as I settled, curled up against his side.

"I know."

* * *

"_Milady, we have captured the girl as you ordered!" a voice announced loudly. Carmen squeezed her eyes shut tighter, a frown forming when she didn't recognize the voice. Where was she?_

"_Excellent work, Edriel." a chilling voice purred, satisfied. Carmen felt the sensation of being flipped over -had she been carried in her upside down?- and laid down on a cold stone floor. _

_Everything came back in a rush - the attack, going out with Scott to get Ben. They hadn't gotten back to the sanctuary in time. Scott took a hit to the back, she'd turned to help him when one of the monsters had grabbed her, kicking and screaming. She'd been knocked out at some point. Where was she now?_

"_Thank you, milady."_

_That voice, she _did_ know it! It was uncle-_

_Uncle Edriel? But he'd been - he'd been captured! That meant -_

Oh **crap**_**. **_

"_Carma?" A third new voice joined the conversation, one that had Carmen's eyes snapping open despite her pounding head. The room was dark, stone and heavy curtains everywhere. It was like a stereotypical evil castle. Despite feeling two other pairs of eyes on her, the fourteen year old sought out the source of the third voice. Then she saw her._

"_Mother?" her voice was weak. She looked to her right. "Edriel." To the left again. "Ardea. Hael." With each name, her voice was quieter, fear tinging each word. Ardea smiled sweetly, and Carmen sensed underlying danger behind it. _

"_So glad you could join us, Carma. It's a shame Rosalie, Alderon and Arynn couldn't join us as well."_

_Carmen narrowed her eyes._

"_What do you want?" she asked cautiously. _

"Want_? I want Rosalie's head, I want the Spiritus Potens to free my master, I could go on for centuries about what I _want_." Ardea retorted. Carmen shivered. "However, such things take time, and careful planning. This is only the beginning. Edriel, kindly escort your _niece_ to her cell."_

_Her uncle was anything but gentle, pulling her from the floor by her arm, twisted it behind her uncomfortably so she could only move however he guided her to._

"_Wait!" her mother's voice cut in. "Milady, permission to take Carma to my chambers."_

_Silence followed, she couldn't see; Edriel wasn't turning, and he'd twisted her arm in such a way so she couldn't. _

"_...Granted, Cariel. It matters not, what matters is that she _does not escape_."_

_Edriel released her arm, and she all but rushed over to her mother. She was not greeted with the loving embrace she'd subconsciously hoped for; but her mother was in there, she knew it. She wouldn't have spoken up if she wasn't there. _

_Once they were out of Ardea's throne room, Carmen finally spoke. _

"_...Why did she take me?"_

_Cariel did not answer for a long while, until they'd entered her chambers. _

"_To break your enemy's spirit, you take away the people they love. When they've lost everything they care about, know and feel complete despair, they are well and truly broken. This is only the beginning; Ardea plans to break Rosalie before taking the Spiritus from her."_

_Carmen had no idea how to respond to that, moving on to her next question._

_"Why help me, or tell me any of this?" she asked, and Cariel sighed. _

_"Dark magic or no, you're my daughter. Edriel may have become a mindless soldier, but I at least have the semblance of mind to watch out for my own flesh and blood. As for telling you, there's little you can do about it anyways. I don't imagine you'll be leaving the castle anytime soon." Cariel's blunt response was startling; Carmen remembered her mother was soft-spoken, only raising her voice when there was a fight to be broken or attention to be grabbed. _

_She had to remind herself that Astaroth had corrupted her, changed her. _

_But she'd saved her from rotting in a dungeon cell, there had to be _some_ part of her old self left, right?_

_Carmen could only hope her mother wasn't beyond saving, and that she was wrong about her leaving. _

* * *

_A/N: Hope this was okay! Also, to any of you who may be questioning why exactly Cariel told Carmen about all that, here's a little quote from Cariel's 'bio' on the generals' page on my tumblr info blog :_

"_She is agressive, temperamental, and has no semblance of loyalty towards her fellow generals. Even with the dark magic urging her to remain loyal to Astaroth, she does so out of a need to survive rather than actual desire to serve him."_

_Hope that clears that up. That aside, what did you guys think? This was a completely unplanned sub-plot, so I'm hoping it pans out okay. See you next chapter!_

_PS. the chapter name has a double-meaning. I'm not sure how many people got it, so I'll explain here; Fragmented both refers to the state of the Mirror of Twilight and, by the end of the chapter, the state of Rose's group of friends. One of them's sort of been broken away from the whole, they're fragmented. Make sense? Is it just me?_


	8. Research and Jewellery

_A/N: Don't kill me! Carmen being kidnapped was something not even __**I**_ _expected me to do! Anyways, we'll get a few snippets of her imprisonment here and there, but the main focus for this chapter is, well.. the title says it all. Here's the review replies! (Also we've passed 50 reviews already! Wow!)_

_Professor of Gallifrey: Poor Carmen indeed. Do not fret, I'll give my reviewers this to somewhat tide you over; Carmen will be back with the others before the Twilight Princess Arc is finished, probably before this particular story is finished. _

_Helpfull person (Guest): *gasp* No, don't cry on my computer, I just got a new one last week! (Also, I promise Carmen won't be corrupted in this story)._

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: As said, she escapes before the end of the Twilight Princess Arc, but that could be anywhere from Snowpeak to the final battle with Ganon. :3_

_RandomButLoved: I wrote most of that at two in the morning, so I wasn't really expecting it either. Hehe._

_Zetra Shink: I wasn't planning on that happening, but SaiyanEpicness gave me an idea just in asking when there'd be another scene with the generals. I figured I'd spice things up a little bit. And yes, I kinda figured that last bit would be like "why is she telling carmen all of this?" so I also figured I should clarify that Cariel doesn't actually like serving Ardea and Astaroth._

_Godofmadness43: Carmen seems pretty sure she can bring her mom back, we'll see. _

_xxyoda864xx: Oh...my...gosh. This has to be one of the longest reviews I've received to date. I'm flattered that my story made it onto your list, and thank you for your praise! I'm very dedicated to this story, elsewise I wouldn't have developed it nearly as much. The characters have sort of taken on a life of their own since I made them two years ago, and it was actually difficult to begin with, writing extra characters into the story. Things like the Zora Armor and the Spinner were hard to write, for instance. I'm glad you enjoy the dungeons and boss scenes, I actually don't have much confidence in my writing of action scenes, it's reassuring to know I'm doing well. Thank you so much!_

_Frostfire613[1]: Yeah, after what they've gone through it would be weird for them to _not _have some kind of bond. The I Loves Yous were an extra treat :) But I get what you mean, I didn't want this one to be like that. _

_Frostfire613[2]: Well then you've come to the right place! Not sure if there'll be any in this chapter. Maybe._

_LostSoul (Guest): Thank you :) And don't worry if you think you're no good, I appreciate all of my reviewers._

_Chaos Spirit44: Haha, 'the cold never bothered me anyways!' Couldn't help it, sorry. Nah, I wouldn't make it that easy for them. And yes, I remember doing that by accident a few times. (It's worse in the gamecube game for Chronicles of Narnia, though) also, gasp! You've caught me, I've made most of this up as I went along. Last chapter was actually a huge surprise. Good to know, keep on reading 'cause I'm not going anywhere!_

_Maddie (Guest): Yeah, I kinda feel bad for writing it, even though it's helping to progress the story._

* * *

Chapter 8: Research and Jewellery

A small piece of my mind noted that this was the shortest stay we'd ever had in Kakariko. It was only the day after the Hunters attacked the village, and Link and I were preparing to head to Castle Town, followed by Snowpeak.

"_Are you sure you don't want to stick around a little longer?"_ Midna asked softly. I was just getting my chainmail shirt back on when she asked, and I shook my head.

"We need to do research, check in with the resistance, and see if I can't find out where Ardea's keeping Carmen." I responded, fastening my cloak. It was a lot colder today than usual; the winter chill had set in, even in Kakariko. "The sooner we do all of that, the better." The last piece was my sword, which I still had to store in my bag until I could get a proper sheath.

"_...Are you okay?"_

I was really starting to hate that question. Not just in the last few months, but today. Bethany had asked, Scott had asked, the kids, Aren, Link, Renado, _everyone_.

"I'm _fine_. Can you get Link and see if he's ready?"

"No need, I'm right here," Link spoke up from the doorway. I hadn't heard him approach - how did an Ordonian farmhand become stealthy enough to approach on the creaky wooden floor of the motel without me noticing? "And to answer your question, I'm ready to leave when you are."

"Now, then?"

* * *

"You have to get me out of here!" _a voice hissed, fear and panic evident in its tone._

"_And why is that, Twill?" Ardea asked. Carmen could practically hear her raising her eyebrow. She was also left reeling when she realized that _Twill _was communicating with Ardea. _

"It's Rosalie, she's crazy! You didn't see what she was like once Edriel retreated with Carmen. One of the hunters was left behind, she killed it! If she finds out I'm working with you-"

"_My suggestion to you, Twill, is _don't _let her find out!" Ardea snapped impatiently. "Now, until you have something _useful _to report, don't contact me again. Understood?"_

"But-"

"_**Do you understand?"**_

"...Yes, Milady."

_Twill was working for Ardea. Had she been spying on them the whole time? There had to be some way to tell Rose and the others. It wasn't likely, but maybe she could convince Cariel to help. Carmen snuck back the way she came, hoping to go undetected back to her mother's room. Halfway out of the door, she bumped into someone; of _course _it was her mother. She looked almost proud. _

"_Doing some spying of your own?" she asked, a little smirk on her face. Carmen shrugged, though the information she'd heard came back to her, and she frowned. _

"_Wasn't on purpose, but at least now I know Twill can't be trusted." That was the least of her worries. "I don't suppose you're going to rat me out?" She had been caught spying, after all. But Cariel shook her head, that little smirk still on her face._

"_...No."_

* * *

The crowds of Castle Town never used to irritate me, but today the usual hustle and bustle was an annoyance, I just wanted to get away from it. Everybody was too close, I could hardly move at a walk while trying to avoid being bowled over or skirting around people who _stopped in the middle of the street_. Gods, it was like highschool hallways all over again. Finally arriving at Telma's, just down the southern road and a trip down the stairs later, was a relief.

Pleasant greetings were strained. I tried to be amiable, but all I really wanted was to talk to my mother. Roran was gone, as was Elena. Lilliandil had a secretive smile on her face when I asked, saying "I haven't the slightest clue, dear."

"Right. Mother, I need your help." I got down to the important question, while Link talked with Auru about what we'd found in the Arbiter's Grounds. It was in the peripheral, but Auru remarked on Link's bad arm - we hadn't had time to properly stitch the tear in the shoulder of his tunic, though the mail was intact - which went hand-in-hand with trying to explain that the dead had risen. Shad and Auru thought he was messing around, initially.

Bringing my attention back to the task at hand and to my mother's concerned face, I got back on track.

"Carma was taken by Ardea's troops. I need to get her back before Ardea can hurt her, if she hasn't already." I whispered. "Do you have anything, potential information on Astaroth's hideouts, maybe a confirmed location...?"

Lilliandil's expression was unreadable, a frown coming to her face after a few seconds. She nodded.

"A journal. Our... our resistance, I suppose, documented everything we learned about Astaroth in it, eventually adding information about the generals as they were captured. Cariel found his hideout, though we weren't sure if there were more." That was _exactly_ what I needed. Not only was that invaluable information, but also a spark of hope. It was a start. The relief from that must have been more visible than I thought, because my mom put a comforting hand over mine. "I have faith in you. Just... be careful. Promise me you'll make a plan before trying to go after her."

A mother's worry never ceased, even after a century apart. Perhaps that only strengthened it. I nodded, though I wasn't sure how well-constructed my plan would be aside from getting Carmen back and not dying or getting captured in the process.

"I promise."

My mother smiled. "Good. The journal, I actually have it with me. Something... compelled me to take it with me today, now I understand why."

I smiled back as another memory came to me. "Sort of like how something compelled you to come closer to an injured animal to see how badly she was hurt?" I asked. For a moment, the expression on Lilliandil's face was confused, before becoming comically shocked. She opened her mouth as though to speak, closed it again. "And, as it turns out, I _do_ look the way I should this time." I added, remembering her words when she'd let me leave.

_"I hope to meet you again, dear girl, and that next time we encounter each other you look as you should."_

Maybe it wasn't smart even telling her I'd been turned into a wolf, aforementioned motherly concern aside. But I'd always trusted her with everything, fifteen years didn't - _couldn't_ - change that.

"I..." she tried to speak. "...Of all the things I expected to come from that, finding out that the wolf was my daughter was not one of them."

I let myself laugh. There'd been very few times I'd rendered my mother speechless, and though this time had only been for a number of seconds I still let my childish half feel proud of it. With a little sigh, the good feelings faded back as my mother retrieved the journal she'd mentioned. I did wonder what made her decide to bring it with her today. The goddesses? Probably. But then, I also wondered what she thought of the other wolf, and the imp that had been on his back. Did she put the pieces together? I couldn't outright ask without giving something away.

I could put that aside for now.

The journal was old, the leather faded and the pages yellowing. It was harder than I would have liked to read the Hylian script, but I hadn't exactly spent much time refreshing my memory over the past almost four months. I could still read it, though.

"Thank you. I'll take care of it, I swear." I said gratefully, tucking the journal into one of the side pouches in my bag. I listened in the background to Shad rambling excitedly to Link about his research on the Oocca people, with Link hardly getting a word in edgewise. "I should probably go rescue Link," I whispered. "We need to get going anyways."

My mother chuckled, nodding her head. "Be careful."

'_I wonder what Shad would do if he found out about Oocoo.'_ I absently thought. "Sorry to interrupt, but do we know where we're headed?" I asked.

"From what I understand, you're checking in with Ashei, in the Peak Province." Auru was the one to answer, pointing out on the map on the table where Ashei was. Snowpeak, that was gonna be fun.

"Well then, should we head out?" I asked. I didn't want to come off as impatient, I just wanted to get going. The longer we spent waiting around, well... Anyways, I wanted to leave. Link seemed a bit surprised, but nonetheless agreed. With a few short goodbyes and a longer one for our respective parent figures and Telma, we were outside again.

"I thought you might want to spend a little more time with your mother," Link commented as we closed the door. I shrugged at him, not offering a response. "Rose..." His tone stopped me. "Are you okay?" _There it was again_. I sighed, didn't say anything as I started to head towards the stairs. Link caught my hand, stopping me again.

"Let me go, I'm fine." I tried to pull my wrist away. He didn't budge, and I huffed. "I'm _fine_. Now let me go." I pulled again at my wrist, this time successful. I stopped again at the top of the stairs, just before the hustle and bustle again. "I'll meet you by the stables, I need to get something really quick before we get out of here."

The idea had come out of the blue, but thinking on it now it was a good one. During our three-week stay in Kakariko, we'd been informed that Malo Mart had "bought out" the shop in Castle Town. That meant that anything that was sold in there before was cheaper now.

I could find a crossbow, maybe. I'd been saving and gathering rupees whenever I could, I had more than enough. If not, there was also the magic armor for Link. He didn't _need_ it, but it was something to do.

Still seeming unsure, Link and I parted ways. I had the sneaky feeling he was going to follow me though, or try to find me if I didn't move quickly.

A simple enquiry showed that the new Malo Mart did _not_ in fact have a crossbow 'in stock', but I could have one made. It was... a little on the pricey side, but I could afford it. Hopefully, it would be ready by the time we got back from Snowpeak. The magic armor was not magic, in fact, as it had been in the game. Or at least, not the kind that drained rupees instead of life if you got hurt. It was stronger though, and that made it expensive. I couldn't afford it unless I wanted to borrow money from Link, but that would take away the surprise of getting him the magic armor. I'd just have to get it later.

With my crossbow now in the works, I went to the stables to meet Link. I could tell he was wondering what it was I'd needed to get, but he said nothing.

The Zora's domain was right next to the Peak Province, I shouldn't have been so surprised that the water was _freezing cold_, especially with it now being close to the middle of winter. The wolf's fur could handle it though, better than clothes could.

There was a block of ice that had previously blocked the way to the peak province, it wasn't there any longer. Link wanted to wait until we dried off before heading up there, I was reluctant to agree, cold or not. I needed to _do_ something, I couldn't just sit around. Seeing as I couldn't very well go off on my own, I alternated between pacing and trying to go through the journal.

Link didn't comment until I made a frustrated noise, trying to wrack my brain for a particular word I couldn't pick out.

"Everything okay?" It wasn't as direct as _Are you okay_, less repetitive. I shrugged, squinting at the word.

"Just a little out of practice reading Hylian script, I can't figure out what this word is." I admitted with a frown. Link held out an open hand and I passed the journal to him, pointing out the word causing my trouble.

"That's because it's a name, they're a bit more difficult. Okatiel, it's the name of one of the mountains in the Peak Province." Huh, you learn something new every day. "It's further to the east than Snowpeak, a lot harder to reach. But it looks like that's where Cariel was when she came across Astaroth's hideout."

Good, we had a name, and a vague location.

"Awesome. We could probably get Bethany's help and head over there once we finish up this business with Ashei."

* * *

Ashei was more than helpful, providing a rough sketch of a beast that had been taking fish from the Zora's domain. Yeto, the yeti who only wanted to care for his sick wife. I already knew this, and could have filled Link in on it before we left, but it was still nice to check in with Ashei. Now that we had the sketch of Yeto, it was a matter of getting information about him from the Zoras. They more commented on the fish, informing us that it was a Reekfish it was holding, and that only Prince Ralis had ever been able to catch one.

That was our next location, the two of us had opted to speak to the boy prince about it and see if he could help. We found him where he always was, by his parents' grave. He recognized Link moments after he emerged from the tunnel that led to the hidden alcove, swimming over from the land with the gravestone to where we were.

"You two... you're Link and Rose, yes?"

"That's right. We helped Telma and Ilia bring you here." I responded to the boy's timid question. He nodded, more to himself I thought.

"My mother came to me in a dream... She showed me your image. She spoke of youths who would save our domain and steer my fate. Link and Rose. I must thank you two, for all you've done. If you ever have need of anything and I can help, please tell me." He had quite a voice for such a young boy. Though, he couldn't have been much younger than Carmen, I realized at a second look. Eleven or twelve, perhaps.

"Actually, that's why we came to you today." I said gently, taking the picture of the yeti from Link. "This fish, it's–"

"A Reekfish. It's very rare, only found in the Zora Domain. It only feeds on a very specific type of coral. Without it, not even the most skilled fisherman can catch one. ...My earring, it's made of this coral. If it will help, I would like to give it to you. It was from my mother, but I no longer need it."

The boy prince removed the earring, placed it in my hand.

"Thank you. I understand this means a lot to you." Ralis nodded.

"If it helps, I'm glad to do it. Now... I will return to my village. I feel I've been gone for too long. And... The Reekfish can be found near the Mother and Child rocks. They're red, you should see them with no trouble." With that, the zora prince bid us goodbye. I waited until I heard him exit the tunnel on the other side, his soft footsteps echoing through the graveyard on the other side.

"If we catch a reekfish, we can use its scent to find whatever's been taking fish." Link pointed out. There he was, figuring out the idea himself. That was good.

"Exactly." While he did that, I could have more time to find anything useful in the journal. A route to the mountain, information on the corruption, the generals, anything. that was what I was doing as Link tried to get a bite from one of the Reekfish. It was much more tedious than the game gave it credit for, but at least I had something to do.

_Ardea - _

Words popped out at me from the text – _Sadistic... malicious... cruel... torture... While loyal to the crown before, Ardea's loyalties have shifted to her new lord and master- Astaroth._

Cariel – _Aggressive... powerful... Serves Astaroth for survival... unpredictable enemy... As likely to help as she is to hurt._

Edriel – _Emotionless...perfect soldier... extremely dangerous.. Proficient fighter and magic-user._

There was nothing for Hael. I wondered why that was. There was even a section on Astaroth's heirs; Arden and Lucien. The twins. They'd run after Astaroth fell, but before that, it was known that they were half demon, half hylian. Proficient magic users, dark and light magic alike. Due to their demon side, they could have other powers that the resistance didn't know about. At least, that was written as a side note.

"Got it!" Link suddenly exclaimed, making me jump. I nearly dropped the book, caught it at the last second before it would have gone into the water. I briefly sent him an irritated look as he brought the fish in.

The Reekfish was true to its name. There wasn't much we could do about it, we needed the scent. After ensuring that nobody was watching, Midna shifted the two of us into wolves. The smell was more potent with the canine senses, but we had a trail. Not wanting to risk discovery by turning back into humans to cross the water, we had to swim for it. The zoras paid us no mind as wolves, we passed through peacefully. Link again suggested we wait to dry off before going into the cold tunnel ahead of us.

'_We don't have time for this, let's just shake it out and move on.' _I suggested, trying not to come off as impatient as I –secretly– knew I was. The tunnel _was_ cold, though, I hoped Link didn't catch my hesitation.

Shaking my head, I started forward into the tunnel at a run, Link following behind.

* * *

_"You're going to _what?_" Carmen asked incredulously. "I can't use magic, that's Rose's thing. I'm just a kid nurse in training!"_

_"Even healers use magic, Carma." Cariel said patiently. "You have the potential to use magic, it makes sense for you to learn." _

_"Yeah, but... that's different." _

_Carmen was surprised her mother had even suggested it to begin with. She wasn't worried she would try to escape, or use her magic against her? As though reading her mind, Cariel smirked. "I have to believe that whoever raised you where you were taught you common sense. It would be... in your best interests to cooperate with me, dear. You're going to be here for quite some time."_

_Cariel was going to teach her magic. Carmen had the feeling it wasn't meant to be used for good. _

'I just want to go home...'_ she thought weakly. _

* * *

_A/N: Like I said, little snippets here and there. It seems her mother wants to teach her to use magic. And in other news, Rose seems moodier than usual. Gee, wonder why? *sarcasm*. Anyways, I'll see you guys next chapter, titled Hot to Cold. Bye!_


	9. Hot to Cold

_A/N: *in my terrible Mario voice* Here we gooooooo! The ascent of Snowpeak! Wolfos, frozen lakes (?), snowboarding and another near-death experience! I've been anticipating this for awhile, simply because the snowboarding part is one of my favourite parts to play. Anyways, review replies!_

_Zetra Shink: Lovely as ever to hear that kind of stuff, thank you! :) _

_Helpfull person (Guest): I was hoping you wouldn't notice that. But as I said, she'll be back with the others before the end of the Twilight Princess arc. Nice lawyer speak. My future sister in-law's a lawyer. Also, very creative sentence there at the end. _

_godofmadness43: That was the idea. There'll be a few snippets about that in this chapter, I'm hoping at least. _

_RandomButLoved: It was harder writing this chapter with her moodiness, but she wouldn't very well be perfectly okay if her best friend had just been kidnapped. _

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: That seems to be where that particular plot bunny is taking me, yes. And what do you know, there happens to be a Link/Rose moment in this very chapter!_

_Professor of Gallifrey: I'm planning on it! Who wouldn't have fun sledding down a giant mountain_

_Allykrau: Good to know, here it is!_

_Roxygirl (Guest): Awesome! It's nice to hear things like that, I'm glad I inspired you :)_

_Maddie: Well, we get some angst!fluff in this chapter about midway through. Hope you enjoy it._

_Hooray for you (Guest): Sorry, dearie, I can't predict that. My muse for writing is finnicky at best. For example, the last few updates were relatively quick compared with last year, but this chapter took me far longer than usual._

* * *

Chapter 9: Hot to Cold

The temperature dropped rapidly further into the tunnel. A few times, I found myself slipping on the ice beneath our feet. I knew it was bound to be worse outside, subject to the blizzard that had come in, so I didn't complain. When we emerged from the tunnel –guess who was right? It was worse outside– I saw that Ashei was gone, and the blizzard was the same as ever. Wind whipped at my fur and stung my eyes, snowflakes clinging to my damp fur.

It was hard to believe that not too far away in the Zora's Domain, everything was peaceful.

'_You still have the scent?'_ I asked. It was a silly question I knew, but the blizzard was stirring everything up pretty bad. Maybe not so silly, then.

'_Yeah, it leads this way,'_ he pointed with his nose in the general direction of what I saw was a mostly-frozen lake. The trail was easy to follow once we found it again, though it led us directly across the frozen water, which looked in danger of cracking. We were especially careful here, despite the ice being slippery. It wasn't like in the game, where you could fall in and you'd wake up back where you started for another go.

Panic spiked through me every time the ice gave even a small crack under mine or Link's weight, I wished my magic had decided to come around so I could just take us to the other side with Farore's Wind. Then again, magic was a fickle thing, I could very well end up dropping us into the water. And _then_ where would we be? We'd be frozen in seconds. Hypothermia didn't sound favourable, I'd much prefer to get to the ruins alive.

When we reached the bigger chunks of ice, I was less panicky. It was like a game my brothers and I had played when we went swimming in the lake– there was this floating wooden platform, one person would stand on it and the other people would try to tip them off without touching them directly. I had a pretty good sense of balance because of that, helped even more with four standing points instead of two.

The scent guided us back to solid ground, and the snowfall increased. Over the wind in my ears, I heard other things around us – running paws, growls. _Wolfos_. They weren't regular animals, they didn't talk like other animals did. That, and the red eyes and fangs were kind of telling.

'_Duck!'_ I shouted when I realized what was happening. A pack of wolfos had surrounded us. We were severely outnumbered. But then, when had that ever stopped us? With the... exception of yesterday.

Animal to animal, it was an interesting fight. Unlike the monsters we'd encountered before, the wolfos didn't bleed. They just... shattered. Like they were actually made of ice.

'_Another pack's on the way, we can't take all of them on. Let's move!'_ I wasn't sure if Link had said it or if I did, but whoever did was right. We'd freeze if we didn't get free of the blizzard soon, too. There was another cave coming up, we could stop there.

We broke into a run, continuing our ascent. The upward slope was becoming more apparent, and the wind picked up the higher we went. A chill was settling in my paws and ears, I _really_ didn't want to get frostbite. The loose snow wasn't making matters any easier, I found myself sliding back down the slope several times, and it was becoming more than irritating.

Before I could really consider it, I was hit from the side and sent flying to the ground. One of the wolfos had tackled me, and we rolled down to flat ground again. As much as I picked, snapped, and clawed, this thing was persistent. The most I was able to do was keep it from getting to my throat.

But then... I had a better shot at getting it off if I was a human.

'_Midna!'_ I shouted. I didn't even need to say anything else, felt my bones and the rest of me shifting back, aggravating old wounds and bringing back a persistent ache. It wasn't quite as bad, but coupled with the wolf trying to bury its teeth in my throat it wasn't pleasant. The second I was able, I lifted my legs, planted them against the wolf's chest and kicked it back. Link still opted to take the animal approach, but I felt more comfortable fighting with a sword in my hands. Given that I didn't have my magic, it was the next best thing.

There was a bottlenecked path up ahead, we could get away.

"This way!" I called to Link, my voice nearly drowned out by the wind. I barely heard myself. We started to run, dodging around the wolfos more often than we fought. The cold was penetrating my layers of clothes faster than the fur, I could already feel it biting at my knuckles and my face. "We have to get out of this storm!"

I could hardly see around me. The only tells for the wolfos was their eyes. I only knew we had to go to the right when I ran into a wall. That was where the scent was leading us, but we couldn't climb that way. I looked for another way up, saw that there was a gradual ascent to our right, we darted that way just in time. Straight ahead was another one of nature's staircases. I wasn't sure if I could even do it, the cold was settling right down to the bone; my limbs were growing stiff. I wasn't in danger of frostbite yet, but it was harder to move when my entire being screamed for me to huddle in on myself to conserve warmth.

I slipped once on the first step, grabbed the second to steady myself. The 'stairs' grew progressively smaller, the icy edges sharper, as we climbed up higher, until we were at the next level. Another climb, and suddenly it was quiet. The wind wasn't quite as strong up here, I could actually even see a few patches of blue sky. The only monsters in sight were a few ice Keese. But then, Wolfos had a nasty habit of popping up out of the snow wherever they wanted.

Having climbed the icy staircase, we were now at a fork in the road. To the left was what appeared to be a big open space of nothing, with a tree in the middle and a high ledge at the far end. We wouldn't be able to reach it from there without magic. To the right was a dangerously narrow path, I assumed that was where we were supposed to go.

Turned out I was right. It led first to a howling stone, but I also knew the path ahead was this general direction. I couldn't remember which hidden skill this howling stone was for, but there were only a few left if I was right. I had nothing to learn from the shade, I was left to pace to keep warm and hope to the goddesses that no more wolfos showed up.

* * *

"_This isn't working!"_

"_Because you are not trying hard enough! You have the power to do this, now use it!"_

_Carmen's mother was not a very understanding teacher. They'd been at work since Carmen woke up, and the teen was beginning to believe her mother was wrong about her magical potential. It wasn't working, nothing was happening besides Carmen becoming frustrated. _

"_I'm trying!" she nearly whined. Cariel sighed, nearly as frustrated as her daughter._

"_Let's try something... simpler."_

* * *

The path beyond the howling stone led to what I remembered was a digging spot to get into the tunnel, which in turn would bring us to the top of the mountain. The snow had almost completely subsided up here, given that most of the clouds were below us now. But that in itself made it colder, we were beneath open sky now, and it was already nearly nightfall.

'_We spent more time than I thought making the ascent...' _

'_Rose, come on!' _Link's 'voice' broke me from my thoughts. '_There's a tunnel here, we can crawl through.'_

The tunnel was too small to crawl through as a human, but I didn't want to turn back into a wolf just to turn back on the other side. Didn't really have much of a choice, did I? Maybe I'd just sleep as a wolf. The fur would make for better warmth than my cloak. No, my cloak made for a better blanket. I shivered once I came free on the other side, shaking snow off of me. I was freezing, and so opted to remain a wolf until I'd somewhat warmed up.

'_Can we rest here?' _I asked softly. It was cold, but I wasn't quite ready to go back outside where it was colder. Not to mention nightfall was near, the temperature was going to drop even more once the sun set. No, we were better off waiting until morning.

There were a few old crates further into the cave, they would make good firewood. Assuming we could get a fire going. I tried using Din's Fire, at first with no results; not even a spark.

"Come on... You've rested enough, you can work now..." I muttered, trying to will my magic to work again. A single spark jumped from my hand, not enough to light the wood up. I huffed, trying again. It wasn't working, I frowned as I grew frustrated. All I was producing were little sparks, fire wasn't catching. "What good is having magic if you can't use it?" I demanded of nobody, waving my hand at the crate and sliding back to the wall. Just as I'd spoken the thought, a much larger ball of fire erupted from my hand towards the broken crates, lighting up the dry wood slowly but surely.

_Seriously_? Whatever, we had a fire now. Before long, the entire piece of wood had caught, and the new heat was radiating through the cave. It wasn't perfect, but it was something.

As I laid my cloak out beside the fire, I laughed humorlessly at an errant thought that ran through my mind. "Funny how yesterday we were in the desert, now we're on top of Snowpeak." I said aloud. "This quest's bringing us to every corner of the kingdom. Beyond, if we consider that we're going to the Twilight Realm once we put the mirror back together."

"_You seem pretty confident we'll be able to."_ Midna pointed out from the shadows. I shrugged, laying on my side as I grabbed the journal again.

"Because we will. We've done so much already, how could we not?" I asked rhetorically. "It won't be easy, but we can do it." Midna didn't respond after that, and I returned to my reading. I spent a good thirty minutes trying to make sense of what I was looking at, going over the same passages over and over again in a few instances to make sure I'd gotten it right before Link spoke up.

"Why don't you rest? There's nothing in here but us, we can sleep." he suggested.

I shook my head, not looking away from the script. "No, it's fine. I want to read through what I can. You go ahead and sleep." I answered, squinting as I looked closer at a peculiar drawing. Five seconds of staring at it, turning the journal around a few times to change the angle, didn't help me figure out what it was. Had the ink smudged? Had someone deliberately scribbled it out?

Suddenly the journal wasn't in front of me. I felt a flush of annoyance when I realized what happened.

"Link, give me back the journal." It was sitting, closed, in his hands. There were times when his stubbornness was appreciated, this was not one of those times. I knew he meant well, really, but I could rest _and_ read.

"We've been going all day, you can rest." he said, and it reminded me of an adult trying to talk a child into going to bed.

"Make me. Give me back the journal." I scoffed, reaching my hand out to take it back. He only raised it higher. Given that he was nearly a full head taller than me, it was now entirely out of my reach. I allowed myself an irritated growl. "Link..."

"I'm sorry, but you need sleep as much as I do." That was when it snapped, like a thread stretched to its limit.

"What I _need_ is to get my best friend back from that sadistic _bitch_ Ardea! Preferably before she gets the idea to, I dunno, torture her!" I snarled, startling both of us. Silence reigned when the echo faded. With the shout drained away my sudden anger, fading into exhaustion. My hands trembled at my sides. "Just... give me the journal."

He still looked startled, said nothing and did nothing for a long minute. The hand holding the journal lowered, and Link seemed to regain himself. He didn't hand it back to me, it went into his bag with everything else.

"You're going to run yourself into the ground. I won't let you get hurt because you fall asleep on your feet in the middle of a fight, or whatever it is we're getting into." I hated to admit it, he had a point. But I couldn't just sit there, and... sleep! Carmen needed me! My thoughts must have been pretty clear on my face, because he added, "Carmen would understand that you need rest."

I huffed, crossing my arms. I wanted to disagree with his logic, say that it didn't matter and I could sleep later, but I just didn't have the energy. The cave around us and the day's icy trek sapped it all. Now that I'd allowed myself to stop thinking, I realized just how tired I actually was. Power of the mind was incredible, I'd actually been able to ignore it til now.

"Fine, you win." I all but grumbled, settling back down where I'd spread out my cloak. It had become commonplace for Link to join me, in this case I imagined to keep warm, it wasn't a surprise when he laid down beside me. Gears in my mind were still turning in my head, I couldn't _really_ settle, couldn't let myself drift off. I twitched when suddenly I felt a hand on my face, didn't open my eyes but raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"My mother used to do this when I couldn't sleep." he said. A moment later, I felt his fingers tracing over my face. My eyebrows, the bridge of my nose, my cheekbones. It was... relaxing, and more than gentle. I hardly felt the touches, more felt the sensation afterwards as he traced patterns over my skin. It was a new sensation, I liked it.

I hummed in the back of my throat, shifting closer to Link. In the back of my mind, that sleepiness was finally creeping up. The closer it came, the more I felt the tension leaving my body. I wouldn't have been able to move right now if I wanted to.

"Mm...thanks." I mumbled. "Sorry I yelled at you." I added before I fell asleep. I felt more than heard Link laugh, heard him whisper, "Just go to sleep." with amusement in his voice, before I was at the mercy of my dreams.

* * *

"_Mother, I __**can't**_ _do this! We've been at it for hours, and nothing's happened!" Carmen huffed, glaring at her hands. Cariel was to her side, shaking her head. _

"_You can, and you will. You just need to try harder." _

_Carmen threw her hands out to her sides, wanting to shout her frustrations. _

_So she did._

"_I've been 'trying harder' for two hours, I can't do it!"_

_A crash like shattering stone to her right startled the girl, and she whirled to find the source, found a section of the heavy walls had cracked, pieces crumbling away. Right where her hand had been pointing when she threw her hands out. They dropped like rocks as she gaped. Her mother smirked. _

"_See?"_

* * *

The air outside the cave was crisp and cold, prickling at my skin the second we stepped out of the round doorway. Keese were flapping about to our right, barely visible through the morning fog. The exit at the top of the cave had led us to a large plateau. Though, I felt I would appreciate the view more if it weren't for the fog. I recalled from memory that this was a warp location, meaning–

Damn it...

"Another shadow beast ambush." I sighed, and seconds later the dark pillars dropped around us. I noticed there were gaps in the barrier, however they didn't lead anywhere useful, unless jumping off a several hundred foot drop was useful.

Only two beasts dropped from the portal, that was both good and bad. Good because both of us had one in our sights, bad because we had to make sure we took them out at the same time, elsewise they'd come back with that ear-splitting howl.

"You take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right?" I suggested, feeling a sense of deja vu with the words.

_"Well, here we go again." _

_'You take the one on the left, I'll take the ones on the right?' _

_"Fine by me." _

Ah, I remembered now. That was a _long_ time ago, back when we were trying to free Faron from the Twilight.

"Fine by me." Apparently Link remembered too, it made me laugh against my will. We didn't have time to joke around though, now we had another fight on our hands. Link shifted into a wolf, and I ducked around a clawed hand that had swiped at me. I was trying to divide my attention, it wasn't working. I took mine out too early, and there it was– that insufferable shriek that brought it right back to life. I'd be deaf before I turned twenty at this rate.

I swiped at the creature's arm, missed as it pulled its arm back. My sword lodged itself into the snow, I couldn't pull it out in time. The claws were headed towards me again, I couldn't dodge.

I heard a scream when its claws tore down my arm, realized after a moment that it was mine. My eyes blurred with tears, I rolled out of the way when it tried to strike again. I didn't get up, stayed on the ground with my arm in the snow. Blurry as my vision was, I still saw when the shadow beasts fell. Link and Midna must have gotten them, my subconscious supplied.

The wolf shifted back into Link, and he was in front of me in moments. I saw his hand reaching for my arm and drew back instinctually, cradling the arm screaming in pain to my chest. I didn't register the warm, sticky substance soaking through my sleeve and into the front of my shirt.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Link said slowly, as though he were talking to a child once again. My consciousness caught up with me, realized that this was _Link_ here, and hesitantly held my arm out. Carefully, he turned my forearm so the bleeding side was face-up.

The leather gauntlets only went so far in the way of protection, not very useful against razor-sharp claws two inches long. I vaguely noticed Link started digging through his bag, but his hand came up empty-handed. He did the same to mine, I wondered in my painful haze what he was looking for. Again, he came up empty-handed.

"We don't have bandages..." Link realized after a moment, I let out a shuddering breath. I had meant for it to be a sigh. I knew why we didn't have any.

"I-I'm sorr-ry, I di-didn't think to-to–" I stuttered pathetically, my breath coming in short gasps. If I hadn't insisted we leave so quickly after Carmen had been taken, we'd have been able to better prepare. Things such as bandages hadn't been on my mind.

And now I was paying for it.

"It's okay, it's okay. We'll figure something out. Come on, I've got you, it's–" Link's soothing voice was cut off by a much louder, somewhat unpleasant one.

"Uh? Woah-ho!" a sudden, booming shout startled us. Yeto. "I heard ruckus, and uh! Just humans! I see not humans often, uh? What brings you to snows?" the yeti asked.

"We're searching- searching for something." I tried to keep my voice steady, even as my arm throbbed and blood dripped onto the snowy ground.

"..you... look for true self?" Yeto wondered. I saw Link sigh, aggravated, and shake his head. The yeti's large eyes looked from Link to me, bugged out even more. "Hurt! The red human is hurt! Why you not say so before? I take you back to house and make soup!" he bellowed. Before either of us could respond, the large yeti stomped over and lifted me up. I shrieked in surprise, that was _not_ what I expected.

The snarky part of my mind wished I could just shout at him, but he only meant to help.

"My house, not far away. We slide there, uh! Do like me! Come!" the yeti shouted to Link, stomping his foot once to free what looked like a frozen leaf from the tree beside us. I looked to Link, between the pain and terror managed to throw him a reassuring look as Yeto stepped one foot onto the leaf.

Oh no, this was the snowboarding part...

The frozen leaf started forward like a sled, headed straight towards the cliff between here and the rest of the mountain.

"No, no no no no..." I whimpered, hiding my eyes as the yeti jumped. This was _a reasonable_ fear of heights, and if this thing dropped me... The landing was a jolt through my bones and sent a shock of pain through my arm. I cried out involuntarily.

"Sorry, lady!"

At least the yeti had the good graces to apologize for it. He seemed to make a conscious effort to make it less bumpy, and I was grateful. Because of the way I was being held, I could just barely turn to see Link behind us. Good, he was following.

We passed keese, ice crystals and dodged trees, though I was hardly aware.

Further down the slope, I remembered there was a bridge. A broken rope bridge, to be more precise. Yeto would have to jump again, I'd just have to grin and bear it.

The slope became steeper for a moment before we were suddenly flying through the air. I heard myself scream again, terrified as the wind whipped at my face. I'd forgotten about the jump, and we flew through the trees below the drop. When we landed, I actually nearly bounced out of the yeti's arms. I just wanted the ride to be over, I _did not like this._

There weren't any more jumps for a long while after that, and the lack of distraction caused the pain in my arm to come to full focus again. It was agony, everything else becoming blurry around the edges.

Something was wrong, I shouldn't be feeling like this.

Had the Shadow Beast poisoned me on top of what it already did? Was I going into shock? I couldn't keep my eyes open, felt my body going limp and heavy. I wasn't surprised at the familiarity of my next thought. Anybody else would have been, but it was almost something I'd grown used to.

Was I dying?

My vision flickered into complete darkness for a short moment. At least, it _felt_ like a short moment.

When I came back to, I felt different. Snowflakes were no longer landing and melting on my cheeks, the wind no longer pulling at my clothes and my hair. I felt... _warm_. Everything still looked blurry, this time even the pain. I saw the familiar green at my side.

"Link..." my voice was weak, fuzzy, even to my ears. I tried to lift my arm, reach out for him, but my limbs felt heavy like lead. I knew something like this had happened before, I couldn't move... when was that?

I felt his hand grip mine, squeeze it gently for a moment before letting go and returning to... whatever it was he was doing. I couldn't really bring myself to consider it. I was warm for the first time in what felt like weeks, even though it had only been a day, and I was just... too comfortable to stay awake.

"Rose, hey- hey, stay with me now, okay?"

I frowned at the fearful urgency in Link's voice, and forced my eyes to open again. Why couldn't I go to sleep? I heard him muttering some more, couldn't pick out the words. There was another voice in the background– Yeto. I'd forgotten from what I'd seen in the game that Yeto was very... boisterous. It hurt my ears, so loud in this room. I whined, both at the noise as well as a peculiar prickling sensation in my arm that already hurt so badly. Like somebody was poking me with something pointy.

"D'n't touch-it..." I fussed, reaching my other arm out and trying to push him away, but all I managed to do was let it drop limply atop his. He paused in whatever he was doing to my arm, before slowly moving my good arm back to its side. I whined again. "Hurts..."

I zoned in and out over the next few minutes -hours? seconds?- until I felt the prickling stop. Link kept talking to me, I didn't hear most of it. Maybe he was talking to himself? The fact that he'd stopped whatever he'd been doing was a sign - to me, at least - that he was done, and I finally allowed my eyes to close. I didn't sleep at first, felt myself being lifted and laid down on something softer. Much quieter voices, definitely not Yeto. His wife,Yeta? Midna?

It didn't matter, I was too far gone to care. The pain dulled with sleep, and I readily welcomed it.

* * *

_So, the little carrier-girl was hurt. Mistress needed her alive, Mistress would kill Tulat if he returned with the news that she was dead. But to save the carrier-girl would make Mistress even angrier, Tulat was only meant to observe and report what he found to his mistress. Making himself known was dangerous, the carrier-girl had killed Motoh in the village! What if she killed Tulat too?_

_But it would be for nothing if the carrier-girl died, wouldn't it?_

_He had to wait for the green one and the orange-y head girl to leave her alone, and he would fix her. _Just a little bit. _And Mistress never had to know._

* * *

_A/N: Gosh, this was a pain to write. Good chapter, I'm sure, but a pain._


	10. Distraction

_A/N: Not much to say here, except that what happened last chapter was NOT was I intended for Rose to go through. I mentioned gaps in the shadow barrier, I was actually going to have her nearly fall off Snowpeak. It didn't happen. I'm also deviating from my orignal chapter plan just a little bit. This chapter was meant to be called Fish Soup and a Wild Goose Chase (or three), but now with that unexpected injury, I figured I'd put in a little something else. It might seem a little strange, I know, but there's a method to my madness. A way to write out just how severe this injury is, seeing as I wasn't very good at writing it. :/ Here's the review replies!_

_SeaDevil: Yay, you're all caught up! I'm glad you like it :) I'm looking forward to future chapters too!_

_Zetra Shink: I pictured your YEP as Toon Link's little noise in Wind Waker :3 Yeto is rather loud, but his heart's in the right place. He just needs to be a little... gentler with Link. _

_Keep Calm and Be Ninja: D'you really think I'd kill Rose off? I certainly hope not. Tulat is a demon. He kinda reminds me of Dobby. _

_RandomButLoved: Trust me dearie, there's much better to come! Still, always good to know you enjoy my works :) and I read the A/N in a mario voice too._

_Hooray for you (Guest): If it were up to me, I'd update regularly with each chapter perfectly filled. Writing isn't that easy though, unfortunately. If it was, I'd be well past the Twilight Princess arc by now._

_Helpfull Person (guest): However, I can honestly promise it won't be happening in the near future. It's a good few stories away still. DOUBLE SMILEY FACE :) :) _

_SeaDevil: Excellent timing indeed :3 Yes, Carmen _would_ be worried but Rose has something of what I call a minor "Winchester complex" and feels like she's personally responsible when her friends get hurt (or kidnapped) and feels like it's solely up to her to fix it. And yes, Carmen would probably hit her if she got hurt on her account._

_gofodmadness43: Well put, godofmadness, well put._

_Roxygirl (Guest): I'm giving you guys more info on Tulat this chapter. Kind of._

_Maddie (Guest): It doesn't take much looking into, I feel like I've spoiled it by already saying._

_Professor of Gallifrey: I figured that'd confuse some people. Aside from my answer in the Author's note here, I'm giving you guys a little more information on the guy in this chapter._

_MasterShortPantsx3: No worries bby! Just glad to hear from you! (I totally screamed over E3 btw. Hyrule Warriors is so pretty!)_

_THEKILLERMOTH: I know, there's typos and spelling errors :/_

_JonV0: Let me shed some light on that for you; The _moment_ the spiritus carrier (in this case, Rose) dies, that energy is released. If Ardea herself isn't there to claim that energy before it disappears, who knows how long she'd have to wait for a new carrier to come around. It's a simple matter of 'Rose can't die if Ardea isn't there' kind of deal. That's why Ardea would be pissed if Tulat reported that Rose was dead. Your last theory there was pretty spot on, excellent job._

_PS. Happy 10 chapters! We're nearly at 100 reviews as well already, I wasn't expecting that!_

_PPS. There's going to be several POV switches in this chapter. As opposed to my usual M.O for POV changes, only _**one**_of these viewpoints will be in italics._

* * *

Chapter 10: Distraction

For the longest time, I felt like I was floating. Nothing above me or below me, the world around me was empty. Simply a thick, gray fog that obscured whatever world may have been here. I couldn't keep track of time, one second may very well have been a few minutes, or vice versa. I amused myself at first in the fog by flipping and twisting; it was like I was in zero-gravity. When I grew restless, I hummed under my breath and began to wander.

This strange world I was in was nothing, it was empty, and it was severely unsettling. It seemed to be growing progressively darker around the edges. The shadow was still some distance away, but I worried about what would happen when it got there. Intent on not thinking about it, I began humming again.

Even some of my favourite songs couldn't ease my sudden unsettlement. I felt like there was something important I was forgetting. As hard as I tried, it wouldn't come. It really was irritating, but I didn't want to let it ruin my fun.

"Ignorance is bliss, right?" I sighed.

"A different occasion, maybe, and I'd be more inclined to agree with you." I froze at the new voice from behind me; It sounded young, like a child. The words sounded so... _off, _too complex for a child. Cautiously, I turned around. A little girl stood there, though her eyes suggested she was far too knowledgeable to actually be a child. It was...

"A little me...?" I wondered, frowning.

"Some people find children to be non-threatening. There's very few children in your mind to take the appearance of." she shrugged. I frowned deeper.

"No offense, looking like my younger self? It's... it's not really helping." From my horror movie experiences, the evil demon killer thing was usually the innocent-looking kid. But when the innocent-looking child was a copy of one's younger self? The little-me rolled her eyes. Again, so out of place. A moment later, a mirror-image of myself was where she'd stood. I startled back a few steps. I hadn't been expecting _that_.

"Is this better?" she asked sarcastically. It was unnerving, seeing an exact duplicate of myself. As if the little-me _hadn't _been. Wait... not an exact duplicate. The eyes weren't green, they just looked sort of... gray. A closer look showed she didn't have any of my scars. I felt a strange feeling of pride with that thought.

"But... How are you- I mean..."

"We don't have time for twenty questions; believe it or not, I'm here for a reason, girl." she cut me off. I narrowed my eyes at my duplicate. She seemed more snarky than she should have been, for being me. The fact that I was staring at a copy of myself was setting off enough warning bells as it was. While the differences were still reassuring, they were worrying in the same respect. _What in Din's name was going on?_

"Alright then; talk." I retorted.

"What do you remember from the last few days?" my duplicate asked. I raised an eyebrow.

"I thought we didn't have time for twenty questions." I mocked. She just glared at e, and I swore the gray eyes darkened minutely. Creepy. "Fine. I... I..." I stopped, thinking hard.

I remembered meeting the Sages, the attack on the village, Carmen was kidnapped. We left, ddi all of the running around we needed to do, and climbed Snowpeak. We stopped in a cave, got in an argument, woke up the next morning, and...

Nothing. I knew there was _something_ there, I just couldn't find it.

I recounted this to the duplicate. She looked like that had proven some unspoken point, nodding to herself knowingly. I found myself irritated with that.

"If you know something, why not share with the rest of the class?" I asked– _demanded_. Warnings were shooting off in my brain, and little tendrils of panic were tangling my thoughts; why couldn't I remember? What did this... _clone _know that I didn't?

My duplicate didn't respond for a long while. With two words an inordinate time later, she managed to tear down the blissful calm I'd managed to find before she appeared.

"You're dying."

* * *

_Tulat had been waiting for hours, and the green one hadn't left the carrier-girl alone! Tulat couldn't be caught, but he also had to make sure the carrier-girl survived! If she died, Tulat would be killed when he reported to Mistress! Just like the one who had to report to Mistress after the failed attempt to capture the dragon shifter! Mistress was so angry that day, but Tulat knew it would be worse if the carrier-girl died._

_The only option was to keep her from dying, but every second she got closer to being taken by Lady Death, and the green one _wouldn't leave_! Maybe..._

_Maybe Tulat could make a distraction to make the green one go away. Mistress didn't give him much magic, just enough to stay hidden and come back to her castle to report back, but maybe he had enough..._

_Tulat remembered Lady Cariel showing the prisoner magic before Mistress sent him out; she'd copied herself! Maybe he had enough magic to do it too. He just needed to remember how... _

* * *

"_I... I'm sure she'll be fine."_

The assurance was empty, Link knew it as much as Midna did. It didn't calm him, nor quell his worry when Rose's breathing stuttered, stopped for a second or two before picking up its uneven rhythm again.

It had been nearly two days, and Rose had shown no signs of waking up or recovering. Her skin was still pallid and cold, her breathing irregular. She'd lost _a lot _of blood.

Link was still reeling from how _quickly_ it had happened. It shouldn't have. They'd fought Shadow Beasts so many times before, why _now_? It started out like every other time. He'd looked away to attack the beast headed in his direction, and not ten seconds later he heard Rose scream. He hardly remembered moving to her aid, nor getting Midna's help in destroying the shadow beasts. The next he registered was seeing Rose bleeding into the snow, the armored gauntlet she'd had on her arm probably being the only reason it hadn't been completely shredded. It was tough, he'd give it that, but it hadn't shielded Rose completely. The two thick gashes in her arm made that quite clear.

The two of the had been shot, stabbed, beaten, electrocuted, and even _poisoned_, but they'd never been up against a wound quite this bad. Blood was positively pouring, frightening and nauseatingly bright against the snow.

And of all the _goddess-damned rotten luck_– they'd left Kakariko in such a hurry, they hadn't grabbed much in the way of medical supplies. Rose had tried to apologize for it, like it had been her fault that she'd been too upset by her friend's capture to have remembered something like _bandages_.

Link had known they wouldn't be able to warp back to the village, portal or not. With Rose injured, it was unlikely she could take the transformation to a wolf and back.

It had been sheer dumb luck that the yeti heard them and came to investigate. He meant well in offering his help, and it was probably true Rose wouldn't have made it without him, but there was something to be said for being... _gentle_ with the wounded. Nevertheless, he'd followed behind the yeti down the slippery slope of the mountain.

And when they reached the yeti's home, Rose was unconscious. Pale, cold -he tried to tell himself that it was because of their rapid descent down the mountain- and unmoving. Without her shallow breathing and the thready pulse he'd found, he'd have thought her dead already.

Now, however, Link was finding little comfort in words. Even with Rose stitched and no longer bleeding, they were by no means out of the 'd feel better when she woke up.

Another halt in her breath had a part of him wondering if she _would._

* * *

I couldn't speak for a long time. My duplicate's words were echoing through my mind. _You're dying._

"_Dying?" _I repeated, incredulous. Waking up and finding out that you had _almost_ died but were recovering was one thing, being told that you were _in the process of _dying was something else.

"_I don't believe I stuttered._ But, I suppose you deserve to know how and why; you were attacked by shadow beasts. You weren't able to get out of the way of an attack in time, and...well. Look at your arm."

Following her instructions, I looked at my arms. The first thing I saw was that my right sleeve was all but shredded and bloody from the elbow down, and there were two neat lines of stitches running from nearly the crease of my elbow to my wrist.

My eyes widened, I heard myself gasp. The panic I'd been controlling so well from the moment my duplicate appeared broke free, coursing through my system like a live wire. My heart was pounding in my ears –I briefly noted in a corner of my mind that the beat was irregular. The fact that I didn't actually remember being attacked made it all the more frightening that I had the wounds from the fight.

"The mind's perception of one's appearance often matches theirs in the real world, even if they don't remember. Your... _friend _Link did a fine job of fixing you, but he may have been too late in doing so." the duplicate spoke when my eyes returned to hers.

"Why don't I remember?" I wondered softly.

"When one's mind doesn't _want_ to remember something, it tends to block it out. It happens quite often."

"Why are you here, then?" I asked, failing at my attempt to keep the tremor out of my voice.

"I suppose... to make the transition easier?" her expression softened for a moment. I stared for a moment, incredulous. She wasn't going to try and motivate me to keep fighting? Tell me that I could make it through this? None of that? My fear of death slowly subsided, being overshadowed by something much stronger.

"_What?"_ the word was somewhere between incredulity and anger. I slowly started shaking my head. "No... no. No, I'm _not_ going to die!" I snapped, panic almost completely absent. Now I was just angry. "I might be dy_ing_, but I'm not going to roll over and take it. I've to too much to do. Link and Midna need me. _Carmen_ needs me. My family, my friends, _Hyrule_. I'm not finished here." I insisted. I stepped back, preparing to turn around. "You won't convince me to take this lying down."

"You do not exactly have a choice. Your mind may think it's strong enough to hold on, but your body is not." the other me said, almost sounding sympathetic. I scoffed.

"You obviously haven't seen how stubborn I can be." My duplicate sighed heavily, but I spoke up again before she could say anything else. "If you're here to 'make the transition easier', what does that make you? Hyrule's version of a Reaper?" I asked, halfway sarcastic. My other half was honestly curious. Curse said curiosity, and my interest in Supernatural. My other self shrugged.

"Something like that. I help people accept their deaths, move on to the afterlife, whatever that may be for them."

So, yes, this duplicate _was _Hyrule's equivalent of a reaper. Great.

"Awesome," I sighed. "I don't know how it works here, but I'm not going with you. Even if I have to turn into a bloody ghost, I'm not abandoning this...thing I'm doing with Link and Midna." I still felt weird calling it a 'quest', but I wasn't sure what else to call it. My point still stood, however.

The reaper looked puzzled, then.

"You don't want to have _peace,_ after all of this?" she asked, shocked. I shook my head, crossing my arms.

"I'll have my peace when my family is safe." _'And everything that entails_,' I mentally added. Ardea defeated, the generals freed, Carmen safe, Ganon and Zant dead, Zelda alive and well, the list went on. It could all be done, Link and I just needed _time _to do it. "I know you've probably heard this a million times before, but you have to make an exception for me. Trust me when I say that what I'm doing right now involves the wellbeing of _the entirety of Hyrule_. I don't know how it works here, if reapers take sides, but if Ganon or Ardea win, your kind are gonna be a _lot_ busier."

The reaper stayed silent for another few seconds, like she was trying to remember the answer to a riddle, before it seemed she remembered, and spoke again.

"You remind me of so many of the soldiers I've reaped from battlefields. Demanding or pleading to be sent back into their bodies and continue fighting. The battles are still won without them, just as this one." At this I made a frustrated growl, throwing my hands up exasperatedly. She wasn't getting it! "As for whether or not your enemies win, you're right. My kind don't choose sides in the wars of living creatures. We're just here to take the souls to where they belong."

"This isn't like a battlefield!" I snapped. "There's tons of soldiers, if one dies there's another that can fight for him. Link and I, right now, we are the only two people who can do this with Midna. If we die, Ganondorf wins, Ardea wins– _Hyrule is lost._"

"You humans are such puzzling creatures. You might feel like you two are the only ones capable of accomplishing this mission, but–"

"Because we _are!_ Link and I were chosen by the goddesses for this, we have to! So pardon me if _dying_ isn't exactly on my agenda today!" I snapped. In my peripheral, I saw the gray void seeming to pulsate in time with my heart, picking up speed. "Look, clearly I'm not getting through to you, so how about we agree to disagree –" The pulsing stopped completely, shadow taking the place of the lighter gray

My voice cut out with a startled gasp. My body -or rather, my "_mind's perception of myself"_- felt suddenly weak, like a whole piece of me holding me up had just been torn away. I fell to my knees, clutching at my chest. Something was missing, something was very wrong! I pulled at the collar of my shirt, trying to see if there had been some other injury the reaper hadn't mentioned. There was nothing I could see, but I knew there was _something_ there. I felt... _empty_, and I knew I wasn't supposed to be feeling that.

Pressure was building against my chest, slow at first. I massaged my sternum, hoping that would relieve it. It didn't. It was getting tighter, building and building until it felt like I was being crushed beneath it. I couldn't think, couldn't _breathe!_ I heard myself gasping, trying to pull in air. My lungs took it in til they were too full to expand, but I felt nothing from it.

"What's– happening?" I choked between ragged breaths. The pressure in my chest had built up into pain, I just wanted it to stop!

"It's starting. This may be your last chance, girl. Choose wisely." the reaper had the audacity to sound _bored_ as it answered me. "You can come with me to the afterlife, or remain a spirit, alone, until it drives you _mad_."

"_Go to hell!_"

* * *

_Tulat managed to get the spell to work, made an illusion. It looked just like him! He sent it into the next room from the shadows. Tulat had to do something big to get the green one and the orange-y haired shadow girl to leave. The big fluffy thing earlier was very loud... Maybe the illusion could draw its attention, and it would get the green one's attention. Hopefully it would give Tulat enough time to fix the carrier-girl._

_The illusion ran off to the fluffy thing's kitchen, seconds later there was a loud shout. Several crashes followed, and a giggle_– _Tulat was a creature for mischief, it was _fun!_ Just like he'd hoped, the noise drew away the two into the other room. The green one had a sword in its hand, the orange-y girl diving into his shadow. _

_What a peculiar little shadow she was. _

_Tulat couldn't think about that right now. Dropping from the shadows, he darted over to the couch the carrier-girl was sleeping on. Tulat was almost too late! The carrier-girl's heart wasn't working, he had to hurry! It wasn't the same as just a wave of Mistress' magic, demons weren't meant to heal!_

_It didn't mean Tulat _couldn't_, it was only harder to do._

_The carrier-girl had lost a lot of blood, that was where he'd start. That was the easiest, almost like making Tulat's illusion-self. Only he had to make sure it was _real_, unlike the illusion-self causing mayhem in the next room. If it was an illusion, that meant it wasn't really there, and Tulat needed to make _real_ blood that matched the carrier-girl's. It wouldn't help if it wasn't even there._

_Tulat grabbed the carrier-girl's arm, the one with the stitches, and the magic started doing its work._

* * *

Link hadn't expected the startled bellow from the yeti in the kitchen, nor his ill wife's terrified shriek. He was on his feet in a second, despite a part of him demanding he return to Rose's side. It would do none of them any good to sit and do nothing if something was attacking them. Several metallic crashes urged him to hurry his stride.

He burst into the kitchen, sword in hand and looking for the source of the trouble. He'd expected something like the ice monster he'd seen in the first room, with the spear. Instead, it looked more like the creatures that had taken Carmen. Demons.

The strange demon was flying around, knocking pots and jars off shelves and cackling all the while as Yeto tried to bat it out of the air with the reekfish he had retrieved that day. It thought it was _funny_.

Link had his bow and arrow out in a moment, arrow waiting on the string for the demon to pause long enough to let loose. The second it did, the arrow was flying, but instead of causing any substantial damage to it as it had in the village attack, the arrow went right through the demon like it wasn't there. Link tried again with the same results. It wasn't hard to figure out; it wasn't _like_ it wasn't there, it just wasn't there.

Something was wrong.

Giving up on the mischief-making 'ghost' -what else could he call it?- Link turned back towards the room where Rose was, having not realized in his haste that he'd left her alone and especially vulnerable as she was now.

The door swung open, Link was running towards the couch he'd situated Rose on nearly a whole day previous. He heard something give a startled shriek, saw moments later that it was the _real_ demon. He couldn't stop it in time, saw it reaching for Rose. Some kind of spark jumped from its fingertips to her chest, and the younger's torso arched up for a few seconds, slumping back down. Link's initial thought was of the Bari that had shocked him and Rose in the Lakebed Temple, but didn't allow himself to think more on it before he swung his sword, if only to get the demon away from Rose.

It glanced at her once –was that _relief_ Link saw on its face?– before disappearing into thin air with a puff of black smoke. When that was gone, there was no sign of it having even been there, even the noise in the kitchen had stopped.

With the immediate threat gone, Link quickly circled to the other side of the couch to make sure that _thing_ didn't hurt Rose any more than it appeared to have before it left. There was nothing to be found, he turned to keep an eye out in case the creature was still there.

"...Link."

* * *

"...Interesting." the reaper commented blandly. I'd been knelt on the ground for what felt like hours, _dying_. That was the only explanation I could think of for the sudden pain, and how the void around me had significantly darkened.. The reaper's words had sealed it earlier, now she sounded perplexed. I couldn't bring myself to think _what_ _could possibly be so interesting about this_ before she spoke again. "Perhaps that wasn't your last chance. You've got friends in high places, girl. And, as it seems, low ones as well. I'm sure this isn't the last time we'll meet, you seem to have a knack for this. So long, Spiritus."

_What_?

She'd told me I was dying, and now that the process was nearly at its end she was leaving. What happened to _'you don't exactly have a choice'_? ...Then again, she'd mentioned friends in high –and low– places. Some kind of divine intervention, or else someone was toying with me.

On the thought, I felt a sharp jolt run through my chest - involuntarily, I cried out; it hurt, the shock reminded me of the Bari - and the empty feeling disappeared, even if the pain wasn't completely gone. I reached for my chest again, feeling an erratic beating against my fist.

My heartbeat.

Was _that_ what the emptiness was? Had my heart stopped? However or whatever happened, it was beating again, and I was never more grateful. I _really_ didn't want to be a ghost, even if it was a better alternative to death in my case.

The darkening fog that had surrounded me from the moment I'd become aware of where I was was no longer an encroaching darkness, the shadows were fading. The world was brightening, blinding white in my vision for a second or two. I lifted my hands to shield myself, but found I couldn't move them.

The light faded back, and the world was again dark, though... a different kind of dark. I could feel properly the throbbing in my arm, the soft surface I was laying on –a couch?– and the heavy blanket covering me. I heard fire crackling somewhere above my head, my own breathing and heartbeat in my head, and someone else's, so close to me. Slightly laboured, like someone getting back from a short sprint.

I recognized the now-too-familiar scent of Link's tunic, reminding me of Faron Woods but somehow _smelling_ of cold and ice. I wasn't sure how, but that reminded me of snowpeak, and the cave. There was something beneath all of that, something just so undeniably _Link_. It was a scent I'd gotten used to in the last several months, and something I'd sorely missed in the void I assumed was my mind.

All of this was felt and acknowledged in the space of the five seconds between my waking up and my opening my eyes. I recognized the room we were in; the 'living room' of the Snowpeak Ruins, where Yeta usually was. But where was she now? From what I remembered...this was usually where she sat.

I couldn't bring myself to care about that, not really. Even less so when I saw Link.

He wasn't looking my way, seemed to be looking for something else in the room. From his grip on the Master Sword to Midna's defensive position in front of me, I gathered something had happened while I was unconscious.

There were bloodstains on his tunic from what I could see in my limited vision, but my short glance inferred that it wasn't _his_ blood, given the lack of scrapes or tears in his tunic. My blood, then?

"...Link." my voice cracked and my lips were chapped, so I wasn't nearly as loud as I'd wanted to be. It got his attention, so I wouldn't worry. I didn't see Link turn as I tried sitting up, didn't _really_ realize he'd noticed me until he was settling me back on the couch.

"Easy there..." his voice was gentle, but the hand on my collarbone was stern but soft. I didn't fight, still felt weak. "How do you feel?" I had to think on that for a moment, what was I feeling most?

"...Like a Goron was sitting on my chest..." I mumbled. "What... happened? How did we get to the ruins?" I asked blearily, rubbing at my eyes. Try as I might, I couldn't remember anything past waking up in the cave. I only knew we'd been ambushed because the reaper had told me.

"Yeto found us. Brought you back here when he saw you were hurt." I could imagine how well _that_ had gone over, given Yeto's penchant for being less than gentle in the game.

I 'hmm'd quietly, not noticing my eyes had closed again until I realized I couldn't see Link. Forcing my eyelids to lift, I sought him out again. "Mm... almost lost me..." I sighed. "Friggen' reaper was... trying to convince me to die, and go with her..." I didn't realize I was speaking out loud until the hand on mine tightened just a little bit. "...told her to go to hell when my heart stopped... didn' wanna leave you..."

Link might have choked then, or I might have imagined it. I couldn't tell.

"_Stopped_?" Midna repeated. If I'd been a little more awake, I'd have startled. I kind of forgot she was there. As it was, I just tiredly nodded.

"Mhm. Chest felt... empty, 'n it started hurting, like I was being squished... couldn't breathe, 'n then... reaper left, something shocked me and... my heart started beatin' again..." I summarized, not knowing I was dropping letters and even whole words as I spoke. "Whatever it was, 'm glad it happened. I didn't wanna be a ghost..." I finished, finally letting my eyes close.

Neither Link nor Midna spoke for a long time, I was quietly amazed that I was conscious enough to even know that. Midna whispered something, I didn't catch it, but Link seemed to agree with whatever it was.

"_We're just... glad you're alright._"

I nodded again.

"Me too. Sleep now?" I asked, cracking one eye open to peer at Link. I heard him quietly chuckle, a relieved sound.

"Yeah, you can go back to sleep Rose." He sounded amused, relieved, still worried.

"Mkay..." I burrowed just a bit deeper into the warmth my blanket offered, before a thought occurred to me. "Link?" He made a short noise, indicated that he was listening. And just like that, the thought was gone. "...Love you." There, that seemed like a good substitute. I heard the small chuckle again -relieved, amused, happy this time- before he responded.

"I love you too. Go ahead and sleep now, we'll be here."

If he or Midna said anything else after that, it was lost on me.

* * *

_A/N: This chapter had a lot of tension, I had to end it on a happy note. Sorry if it seemed rushed at all, I've been picking and editing this for days now to try and make it better, not sure if I succeeded. Hope you liked it, see you next chapter!_


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